Mariners win 5-0 as Felix Hernandez throws two-hitter

SAN DIEGO — The question further animated an already buoyant Felix Hernandez.

Was he looking into the dugout in the ninth inning, wondering if manager Don Wakamatsu was coming to take him out?

"For what?" he exclaimed. "Nobody was going to take me out. Nobody."

Hernandez fired a brilliant two-hit shutout Tuesday as the Mariners beat the San Diego Padres, 5-0, at Petco Park.

Manager Don Wakamatsu said Hernandez, because of his pitch count (117), was down to his last hitter when he retired Brian Giles to complete his third career shutout.

But Wakamatsu acknowledged, "I'd have to rip him off the mound to get him out tonight. Just a tremendous effort."

The Mariners, ending a three-game losing streak, got solo home runs from Franklin Gutierrez and Adrian Beltre, as well as a two-run single in the ninth by Ken Griffey Jr. to give Hernandez some breathing room. Those were their only hits of the game, in fact.

The night belonged to King Felix, who is getting more regal by the game. The turning point is not hard to pinpoint, either; since being called out by Wakamatsu following a ragged outing against the Angels on May 19, Hernandez is 3-0 with a 0.72 earned-run average in five starts.

"I think it just struck a nerve with him about going out and competing the right way," Wakamatsu said. "Ever since then, he comes ready to pitch, he's focused."

After the Angels' game, in which Hernandez gave up 11 hits and six runs in 5-2/3 innings — and allowed five stolen bases, raising Wakamatsu's ire — the manager said, "Sometimes you've got to ask guys to step up. I didn't think he stepped up today."

Since then, Hernandez has leapt up. The lone hit off him until the ninth was a clean single to center leading off the second by Kevin Kouzmanoff. Hernandez gave up a leadoff single to Tony Gwynn Jr. in the ninth for the Padres' other hit. Hernandez walked four and struck out six.

"I felt pretty good today," said Hernandez. "All the pitches were there. I had great command after the first inning."

He joked, "But I was mad because I didn't get a hit. I worked a walk. That was an outstanding at-bat."

Speaking of his meeting with Wakamatsu, Hernandez said, "He only told me about the running game and the base runners, but the thing now is I'm more aggressive. I attacked the strike zone. I threw a little bit harder."

Wakamatsu believes that Hernandez, at age 23, is poised to blossom into the consistently dominant pitcher that's been expected since he came up as a 19-year-old whiz kid.

"It's not just going out and competing," Wakamatsu said. "It's trying to be more intelligent. And from that point, I've seen a different pitcher. I've seen a guy that comes out and is ready to compete for his team."

After his single, Kouzmanoff was wild-pitched to second by Hernandez, and advanced to third with two outs, by far the closest the Padres came to scoring. The Padres gave Hernandez a mild scare in the seventh after Giles drew a two-out walk, but Gutierrez ran down Chase Headley's drive to deep center with a stylish running catch.

"It was outstanding," Hernandez said. "He's the best in center field. He's great."

Said Gutierrez: "When the pitcher is out there doing a great job and you make a great catch, it just feels like they can throw the ball over the plate, because they know guys can make a play behind them."

Catcher Jamie Burke said Hernandez had command of all four of his pitches, calling it one of the best games he's ever caught.

"It was just a matter of which pitch he wanted to use," Burke said. "It was fun to be back there and catch a guy who has command of all his pitches."

Gutierrez's homer, his fourth of the season, came with one out in the third on a 2-2 fastball by Padres starter Kevin Correia, who had retired the first seven Mariners' hitters. The right-hander retired the next 11 in a row until Beltre, on a 2-2 slider, ripped another homer.

Correia then retired the next five Mariners he faced before being removed for a pinch-hitter in the eighth, but the damage had been done. Hernandez, who raised his record to 7-3, made sure of that while recording sixth career complete game.

Never mind that Wakamatsu said Giles was his last hitter. Hernandez wasn't buying that.

"Huh? Huh?" he barked in mock anger. "Hell no. Not 'til I was ready."

Notes

• Ichiro's career-high streak of 43 consecutive games reaching base ended with his 0-for-4 night, concluding with a called strike three by Derryl Cousins that drew Ichiro's ire.

• Erik Bedard had an eight-minute throwing session off flat ground Tuesday. Wakamatsu said it went well. Bedard will have a bullpen session today and, if that goes well, he's on for Saturday's start against the Diamondbacks at Safeco Field.

• Catcher Rob Johnson, who is on bereavement leave, attended the funeral of his mother-in-law in Texas. Wakamatsu said he doesn't know when Johnson will return to the team.

• On another sad note, Russell Branyan's grandfather died, and Branyan will probably miss Thursday's game in San Diego to attend the funeral. If so, he would return to play in Friday's game in Seattle.

• Kenji Johjima (broken toe) joined the team from Seattle, and underwent hitting and running drills Tuesday. The plan is for Johjima to go to Tacoma for a minimum of three games. "He has to prove to us he can catch all nine innings," Wakamatsu said. "I don't want to have a two-catcher scenario where we have to pull him in the fifth inning because his toe is sore."

Said Johjima: "There's no pain anymore. Squatting is no problem, hitting no problem."

Larry Stone: 206-464-3146 or lstone@seattletimes.com.