KING FELIX FALLS ONE PITCH SHORT OF PERFECTION
Odor's 2-Strike, 2-Out 3B in 9th Is Spoiler
SEATTLE, June 13 (AP) - Seattle Mariners right-hander Felix Hernandez took a perfect game two outs--and two strikes--into the ninth inning, but surrendered a triple to Rougned Odor of the Texas Rangers, spoiling the bid for history at Safeco Field. Fernando Rodney replaced Hernandez on the mound and retired Michael Choice to preserve the 2-0 Mariners victory but Hernandez came so close to perfection he could probably taste it, only to fall victim to an 0-2 mistake.
It was the first time all year a major league pitcher took a perfect game into the ninth inning. Jon Lester of the Boston Red Sox lost a perfect game in the eighth inning of a May 16 tilt with the Detroit Tigers at Fenway Park. No one else has been perfect through seven innings.
The Mariners got Hernandez the only run he would need in the third off Rangers starter Nick Tepesch, on Kyle Seager's lead-off home run, Seager's 10th roundtripper of the year. Seattle added a run in the fifth when consecutive one-out singles off the bats of Logan Morrison and Stefan Romero put runners on first and second and, one out later, Mike Zunino's base hit brought home Morrison to give the Mariners a 2-0 edge.
But all of the 36,834 pairs of eyes at Safeco were focused on King Felix. He spent most of the game simply overpowering Texas, fanning a personal season-high 13 batters, including seven in the first four frames. The Rangers never even came close to a hit until the ninth inning and Hernandez faced only five three-ball counts. Hernandez never went to 3-1 in the game.
In the ninth, Hernandez fanned pinch hitter Luis Sardinas--his 13th and final strikeout victim--to open the inning. He then got Leonys Martin on a routine fly ball to left. With the partisan Safeco crowd on its feet and at a fever pitch, Hernandez quickly worked in front of Odor 0-2. Then, inexplicably--maybe it was the excitement of the moment, maybe it was a creeping sense of fatigue--he fired a fastball more or less right down the middle and Odor ripped it over the head of the retreating Endy Chavez--who had been brought in for defensive purposes at the start of the inning--and off the center field wall. Odor didn't stop running until he reached third with a triple. Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon, with the game still very much on the line--the tying run was coming to the plate--wasted no time getting Hernandez and replacing him with Rodney. The crowd gave Hernandez a long standing ovation as he walked to the Seattle dugout. It was almost anti-climactic when Rodney retired Michael Choice on a ground ball to short to close out the game.
6/13/2014, Tex14-Sea14, Safeco Field
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP
2014 Rangers 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0
2014 Mariners 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 x 2 9 0 9 0
Rangers AB R H BI AVG Mariners AB R H BI AVG
Choice dh 4 0 0 0 .153 Jones,J cf 4 0 0 0 .248
Andrus ss 3 0 0 0 .260 Bloomquist 1b 0 0 0 0 .337
Choo lf 3 0 0 0 .229 Seager 3b 3 1 1 1 .275
Beltre 3b 3 0 0 0 .338 Cano 2b 4 0 0 0 .298
Rios rf 3 0 0 0 .273 Morrison 1b 4 1 1 0 .111
Snyder 1b 3 0 0 0 .222 Chavez,En cf 0 0 0 0 .216
Chirinos c 2 0 0 0 .244 Romero dh 4 0 2 0 .203
Sardinas ph 1 0 0 0 .333 Ackley lf 4 0 1 0 .249
Martin,L cf 3 0 0 0 .260 Zunino c 4 0 2 1 .211
Odor 2b 3 0 1 0 .310 Miller,B ss 4 0 1 0 .222
28 0 1 0 Gillespie rf 3 0 1 0 .254
34 2 9 2
Rangers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Tepesch L 0-4 4.2 9 2 2 1 3 96 61 5.28
Ross,R 2.2 0 0 0 0 1 25 18 5.34
Tolleson,Sh 0.2 0 0 0 0 2 7 6 3.21
8.0 9 2 2 1 6 128 85
Mariners INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Hernandez,F W 7-5 8.2 1 0 0 0 13 112 78 2.74
Rodney S 19 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 4 2 4.74
9.0 1 0 0 0 13 116 80
Tex: Sardinas batted for Chirinos in the 9th
Sea: Bloomquist inserted at 1b in the 9th
Chavez,En inserted at cf in the 9th
E-Andrus. 2B-Miller,B(6). 3B-Odor(2). HR-Seager(10). RBI-Seager(39),
Zunino(23). K-Choice 3, Andrus 3, Choo, Rios 2, Snyder, Chirinos 2, Sardinas,
Morrison, Ackley, Zunino, Miller,B 2, Gillespie. BB-Seager.
GWRBI: Seager
Temperature: 70, Sky: clear, Wind: left to right at 8 MPH.
Attendance: 36,834
Game Time: 2:34