King Felix hopes to crown Indians in Seattle
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Felix Hernandez gets to face an opponent other than Oakland for the first time this season this evening when the Seattle Mariners close out a three-game set with the Cleveland Indians at Safeco Field.
Hernandez has already made three starts this season, but all of them have come against Oakland and he has produced a 1-1 mark to go along with a 3.80 ERA in those outings. He was terrific on Friday against the A's, but absorbed the loss in the 4-0 shutout, as he surrendered two runs and seven hits in seven innings.
"I'm not happy about the performance, but it was just a couple mistakes I made and gave up those two runs and that cost us the game right there," Hernandez said. "We lost, that was the bad part."
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Hernandez is 5-3 lifetime versus the Indians with a 2.80 ERA in 10 starts.
Cleveland, meanwhile, will counter with righty Josh Tomlin, who is 0-1 on the year and has allowed eight runs in 8 2/3 innings of work. Tomlin pitched in relief on Saturday in Kansas City and was awful, surrendering six hits and five runs (four earned) over 3 2/3 innings.
He has faced the Mariners three times and is 2-1 with a 6.23 ERA.
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Seattle evened this series at a game apiece on Wednesday, as Ichiro Suzuki and Chone Figgins each smacked a solo home run, while Jason Vargas tossed seven solid innings in the Mariners' 4-1 win.
Vargas (2-1) struck out seven and allowed one run on four hits and three walks, while Brandon League picked up his fifth save of the season with a 1-2-3 ninth.
"Vargas was the story, he threw the ball very well. He held us in check the whole night," Cleveland Manny Acta said of Vargas' outing.
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Seattle has won three of its last four games.
Derek Lowe (2-1), who debuted with Seattle in 1997, was touched for four runs on eight hits and six walks in 4 1/3 innings for Cleveland, which had its four-game winning streak snapped.
Jason Kipnis drove in the lone run for the Tribe.
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Cleveland won five of its nine meetings with the Mariners last season.