SEATTLE — Felix Hernandez kicked at the front of the pitcher’s mound. He poked at the dirt caught in his spikes.
And when it was over, he brushed aside questions about the mound being a factor in his 180-degree turn in success Monday night.
“A little bit, but that’s not an excuse,” the Seattle Mariners ace said when asked about the distraction that the mound provided in the pivotal fourth inning of Monday’s 7-3 loss to the Yankees.
In what was supposed to be a prime-time matchup of former teammates, Hernandez couldn’t live up to his billing against former teammate Michael Pineda. The 29-year-old Hernandez, after mowing down the first nine batters he faced, fell apart in the fourth inning before getting chased from the game after 4 2/3 innings — his shortest outing of the season.
“I don’t know what happened,” Hernandez said after the loss. “I just lost my command.”
Hernandez got clobbered for six hits, five walks and a season-high seven earned runs in his worst outing of the year. Pineda dominated Seattle over the first six innings, leading the New York Yankees to a 7-0 lead while Hernandez struggled through control problems and a Mark Teixeira grand slam.
The most visible problem for Hernandez had to do with the mound, as he continually kicked at it and showed signs of frustration as things started to unravel in the fourth.
After the game, neither Hernandez nor manager Lloyd McClendon was going to kick up any controversy about the pitching mound.
“He just didn’t pitch well,” McClendon said. “He’s human. I’m not going to sit here and make excuses and say the mound was the reason he didn’t pitch well.”
Neither was Hernandez.
“Just one of those days,” he said with a shrug.