The normally inept Seattle offense handed Felix Hernandez 7-0 and 8-1 leads and the former Cy Young Award winner was so stunned he didn’t know how handle his rare, good fortune. Hernandez imploded, allowing the Angels to storm back for six runs before he exited shell-shocked, then watched as the Mariners lost 10-9 when reliever Yoervis Medina walked in, on four pitches, what proved to be the winning run in the eighth inning.
After Hernandez departed with an 8-7 lead, the Angels tied it on an RBI single by Albert Pujols. Seattle went ahead 9-8 on Kyle Seager’s RBI double, but in the eighth, the Angels knotted it on Eric Aybar’s RBI single in the eighth. The Angels then loaded the bases and Medina walked Alberto Callaspo with what became the winning run.
Hernandez, who won his past three decisions, allowed six runs on a season-high 12 hits in 5.0 innings. He is 0-4 in his past four outings at Angels Stadium. In the fateful fifth, Hernandez allowed the Angels seven consecutive hits, one of the biggest bombardments against the Seattle ace in his major league career.
The Mariners, who fell to 32-42, went 3-4 on the seven-game road trip. They gave up 17 hits to the Angels in the series finale, including four to Mike Trout, who also walked and stole a base.
The Mariners jumped on Tommy Hanson for three runs in the first on Nick Franklin’s RBI single and Kyle Seager’s two-run homer, and exploded for four more in the third on RBI singles by Kendrys Morales and Raul Ibanez and fielder’s choices by Justin Smoak and Brendan Ryan.
The Angels got to Hernandez for a run in the third on a ground ball out by Aybar that scored Chris Iannetta. But in the fourth. Ibanez drove in Seager with a single.
The Angels cut the lead to 8-7 in the fourth on a Josh Hamilton sacrifice fly, a Peter Bourjos solo homer, an RBI single by Pujols and a three-run homer by Mark Trumbo.
The Angels tied it at 8 in the sixth on a broken-bat single by Pujols off Fernandez’s replacement, Danny Farquhar.
The Mariners got Brendan Ryan to third in the eighth and Seager drove him home with a double for a 9-8 Seattle lead, but the Angels tied it on Aybar’s RBI single.
The Mariners return to Safeco Field Friday night to begin a three-game series with the Oakland Athletics. Hisashi Iwakuma (7-2, 2.06) will face Bartolo Colon (9-2, 2.89). Colon defeated Iwakuma and the Mariners Sunday 10-2.
NOTES: The Mariners Thursday placed former catcher Kelly Shoppach on waivers for the purpose of giving him his unconditional release. The Mariners had already designated Shoppach for assignment. Shoppach hit .196 in 35 games . . . When the Mariners lost 1-0 to the Angels Wednesday, it marked the first time in 30 years that Seattle lost a game in which the only run scored on a wild pitch. L.A. won after Joe Saunders threw a wild pitch in the sixth inning — his first of the season. That last time such a thing happened to the Mariners was June 8, 1983 when a Matt Young wild pitch in the seventh inning scored Larry Parrish of Texas . . . Jason Bay sat out his fourth straight game Thursday with an ailing hamstring.