While going up against the Astros has historically proven to be a manageable task for Felix Hernandez and most pitchers in baseball, it hasn’t been the case this year and certainly wasn’t for King Felix on Friday.
Hernandez had a start to forget. Specifically, he had statistically the worst start of his career.
The right-hander gave up eight runs on five hits and two walks against Houston on Friday, making it through just one third of an inning before being lifted for Joe Beimel. It was just the second time in Hernandez’s career that he gave up eight runs, the other coming a 2013 start against the Rangers. It was also the first time Hernandez hasn’t made it out of the first inning due to ineffectiveness (he was pulled from a 2007 start against the Twins due to a right elbow injury).
With the Mariners unable to battle back from the deficit, catcher Jesus Sucre entered the game in the eighth inning, becoming the first position player to pitch for Seattle since 2008 (per MLB.com’s Greg Johns). Sucre worked around a leadoff single to pitch a scoreless inning, generating a double play in the process. Needless to say, it was his pitching debut, and while Seattle’s team ERA took a hit on Friday, Sucre can walk out boasting a career 0.00 ERA in the big leagues.