HOUSTON (AP) — Seattle's Felix Hernandez has lost his spot in the rotation in the wake of his latest terrible start in a season filled with struggles.The right-hander, who threw a perfect game in 2012, will pitch out of the bullpen for the first time in his career. He's having the worst season of 14-year career as the Mariners chase their first playoff berth since 2001. Hernandez has a career-high 5.73 ERA this season and is 0-4 in his last five starts, capped by a clunker against the Rangers on Tuesday when he allowed a career-high 11 runs — seven earned — on eight hits in six innings.The six-time All-Star and 2010 AL Cy Young Award winner, who earned the nickname King Felix for his majestic presence on the mound, trotted from the dugout to the bullpen after the third inning Thursday night against Houston but did not pitch. Manager Scott Servais announced the decision postgame.Servais said he spoke with Hernandez before the game and informed him of the decision. Hernandez has spent his... [More]

HOUSTON (AP) — Seattle's Felix Hernandez has lost his spot in the rotation in the wake of his latest terrible start in a season filled with struggles.The right-hander, who threw a perfect game in 2012, will pitch out of the bullpen for the first time in his career. He's having the worst season of 14-year career as the Mariners chase their first playoff berth since 2001. Hernandez has a career-high 5.73 ERA this season and is 0-4 in his last five starts capped by a clunker against the Rangers on Tuesday where he allowed a career-most 11 runs — seven earned — on eight hits in six innings.The six-time All-Star and 2010 American League Cy Young award winner who earned the nickname King Felix for his majestic presence on the mound trotted from the dugout to the bullpen after the third inning on Thursday night against Houston but did not pitch before manager Scott Servais announced the decision postgame.Servais said he spoke with Hernandez before the game and informed him of the decision. Hernandez... [More]

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Bartolo Colon still has another lofty goal after becoming the top winning pitcher from Latin America."This year is almost getting close to the end. But there is one thing that I will look for, is Juan Marichal has more innings than me," Colon said through a translator. "For the Dominicans, I want to beat him also."But there likely won't be enough time left in his 21st big league season for the 45-year-old Texas Rangers right-hander to do that.After needing six tries to get his 246th career victory and finally break a tie with Nicaragua's Dennis Martinez for the most win by a Latin American, Colon now would have to throw 61 2/3 more innings to pass Hall of Famer and fellow countryman Marichal on another list.The last-place Rangers have only 46 games left in this long and hot summer. Colon, who has averaged just under six innings in his 21 starts, would probably have no more than nine starts remaining in a five-man rotation and if he stayed on his turn.But the Rangers... [More]

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Bartolo Colon became the top-winning pitcher born in Latin America, punctuating his 246th career victory with a nifty snag as the Texas Rangers roughed up Felix Hernandez and the Seattle Mariners 11-4 on Tuesday night.The 45-year-old Colon, from the Dominican Republic, made his sixth start since earning his 245th win on June 30 that matched the mark held by Dennis Martinez from Nicaragua.Colon (6-10) gave up four runs in seven innings. The portly and popular right-hander struck out one and walked none.Adrian Beltre, Jurickson Profar and Rougned Odor homered off Hernandez (8-10), who allowed a career-high 11 runs — seven earned — in six innings.ANGELS 11, TIGERS 5ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Shohei Ohtani hit a three-run homer during a seven-run first inning, and the Angels celebrated Mike Trout's 27th birthday with a victory over the Tigers.Trout missed his sixth consecutive game with a sore right wrist, but his teammates maintained a celebratory mood at the Big A with... [More]

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Felix Hernandez briefly looked like the ace he used to be for the Seattle Mariners, even playfully pointing former teammate Adrian Beltre back to the dugout after striking out baseball's active career hits leader.After getting through the first two innings unscathed Tuesday night, including another entertaining on-field exchange with his friend, the struggles returned for the former AL Cy Young Award winner.Beltre grounded into a double play to end the third, but only after the Texas Rangers had scored four runs that inning to put them ahead to stay. And when Beltre homered to straightaway center in the sixth, it marked the most runs Hernandez has ever given up in his career."Yeah, I'm frustrated. What can I say? What can I say?" Hernandez said after giving up all the runs in six innings of an 11-4 loss.Hernandez (8-10) is 0-4 in his last five starts for the playoff-contending Mariners. This was the only time in that span he pitched more than five innings.Robinson... [More]

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Bartolo Colon became the top-winning pitcher born in Latin America, punctuating his 246th career victory with a nifty snag as the Texas Rangers roughed up Felix Hernandez and the Seattle Mariners 11-4 on Tuesday night.The 45-year-old Colon, from the Dominican Republic, made his sixth start since earning his 245th win on June 30 that matched the mark held by Dennis Martinez from Nicaragua.Colon (6-10) gave up four runs in seven innings. The portly and popular right-hander struck out one and walked none.Adrian Beltre, Jurickson Profar and Rougned Odor homered off Hernandez (8-10), who allowed a career-high 11 runs — seven earned — in six innings.PIRATES 10, ROCKIES 2DENVER (AP) — Jameson Taillon beat Chad Bettis in a matchup of pitchers who battled testicular cancer last year, and the Pirates hit three homers.Taillon (9-8) allowed 10 hits in his second complete game of the season. The 26-year-old right-hander struck out three and walked one, helping Pittsburgh stop... [More]

A look at what's happening around the majors today:BLUE BIRTHDAYMike Trout is likely to sit out the Angels' game against Detroit because of a sore right wrist, depriving Los Angeles' fans of what's become an annual treat: Seeing Trout do incredible things on his birthday. Trout will turn 27 on Tuesday, and he has a history of throwing celebrations for himself. He has homered on his birthday four times in his first six full big-league seasons. He did it at the Big A last season, homering and also getting his 1,000th career hit. Trout received a cortisone injection on his wrist Monday, and the Angels are hopeful he can return to the lineup on the weekend. He missed his fifth straight game Monday.PITCHING PALSPittsburgh's Jameson Taillon and Colorado's Chad Bettis will pitch in a game featuring two starters bouncing back from testicular cancer. Bettis underwent surgery in November 2016 for testicular cancer and continued cancer treatments through that spring and into last season. So when Taillon... [More]

A look at what's happening around the majors Tuesday:BLUE BIRTHDAYMike Trout is likely to sit out the Angels' game against Detroit because of a sore right wrist, depriving Los Angeles' fans of what's become an annual treat: Seeing Trout do incredible things on his birthday. Trout will turn 27 on Tuesday, and he has a history of throwing celebrations for himself. He has homered on his birthday four times in his first six full big-league seasons. He did it at the Big A last season, homering and also getting his 1,000th career hit. Trout received a cortisone injection on his wrist Monday, and the Angels are hopeful he can return to the lineup on the weekend. He missed his fifth straight game Monday.PITCHING PALSPittsburgh's Jameson Taillon and Colorado's Chad Bettis will pitch in a game featuring two starters bouncing back from testicular cancer. Bettis underwent surgery in November 2016 for testicular cancer and continued cancer treatments through that spring and into last season. So when... [More]

Now that the dust has settled after the trade deadline, here's some quick trivia:Which team does Zach Duke pitch for?How about Darren O'Day? Or Seunghwan Oh?It seemed like every contender wanted to add another arm or two in the bullpen, making the hours and days leading up to last week's non-waiver trade deadline feel like a giant game of musical chairs for relievers. The importance of relief pitching in the postseason has been obvious for a while now. Last year, the Yankees got just one out from their starting pitcher in the American League wild-card game against Minnesota, but four relievers went the rest of the way, and New York was able to advance.With so many off days built into the schedule in the playoffs, teams can push their top relievers more. Here are a few bullpens to watch down the stretch.(But first, the trivia answers: Duke was traded to Seattle, O'Day was dealt to Atlanta, and Oh is with Colorado now.)Chicago Cubs: If you made a list of the absolute top relievers in baseball,... [More]

BOSTON (AP) — Steve Pearce homered three times, the second a three-run drive in an eight-run fourth inning as the Boston Red Sox rallied from an early deficit to beat the New York Yankees 15-7 on Thursday night and take a season-high 6½-game lead in the AL East.In the opener of a four-game series that gave New York the potential to erase most of its division deficit, the Red Sox instead opened a bigger gap, taking advantage of manager Aaron Boone's decision to pull starter CC Sabathia after three innings with a 4-2 lead. Jonathan Holder (1-2) faced seven batters and did not record an out.Mookie Betts had four hits and two walks, reaching safely all six times he came to the plate. Pearce, J.D. Martinez, Ian Kinsler and Andrew Benintendi had three hits apiece for Boston.Didi Grigorius homered twice, Aaron Hicks hit one and Giancarlo Stanton got his 25th of the season for the Yankees, who have lost just twice in the past week but dropped two games in the division.Brian Johnson (2-3), making... [More]

SEATTLE (AP) — Whether it was intentional or not, Seattle Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto placed a heavy burden on Felix Hernandez on Thursday.If Hernandez can stay healthy and be a strong, serviceable arm for Seattle — not the ace he once was — then the Mariners' questionable pitching rotation may turn out to be just fine. If Hernandez is injury prone and unable to stay on the mound as was the case in 2017, the Mariners could again be scrambling with their pitching staff."Nuts and bolts it comes down to how Felix comes into spring training," Dipoto said during the Mariners' pre-spring training luncheon. "If Felix can give us the 25 starts or more than he gave us in 2016, we're going to be a good team. If Felix gives us 16 or less as was the case last year, we're going to have to answer a lot of questions."Putting that on Hernandez shows how tenuous the Mariners' pitching situation is going into the 2018 season. Seattle seems solid at the top of its rotation with lefty James Paxton... [More]

RHP Felix Hernandez, who has battled right shoulder soreness for much of the season, will not make his final scheduled start on Saturday against the Los Angeles Angels. "He's gone through a long year with the shoulder kind of barking the majority of the year," Mariners manager Scott Servais said. "I don't know what the benefit is of running him out there right now." Servais said Hernandez would make that start if the Mariners were still in playoff contention. RHP Andrew Moore will start on Saturday. Hernandez finished the season 6-5 with a 4.36 ERA in 16 starts. In his final start on Monday night, he allowed one run on two hits over six innings in a 7-1 victory against Oakland. He struck out two and walked two. "It was nice to see him do well last night and have a good positive outing as he shuts it down," Servais said. "It makes him feel good about where he's at going into the offseason and how valuable he is to our team. If we can't run him out there every five days, it's a big gap." Hernandez, 31, plans to alter his offseason training program in order "to stay healthy, to have more left in the tank at the end of the year" next season. "I know Felix wants to come back, he wants to do some things differently than he's done in the offseason, and he needs to."

NEW YORK -- Aaron Judge tied Mark McGwire's rookie record for homers in the third inning and broke the mark in the seventh as the New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 11-3 during a makeup game Monday afternoon.Judge tied McGwire by hitting a full-count fastball from Jakob Junis (8-3) into the back rows of the lower portion of the right-center-field seats just below the bleachers with one out in the third.Judge reached 49 in his 150th game and 525th at-bat. McGwire did it in 151 games and 547 at-bats for the Oakland A's in 1987. In his second attempt at getting the 50th homer, Judge emphatically broke McGwire's mark, hitting a 2-1 breaking ball from Trevor Cahill into the left-center-field seats beyond the Royals bullpen, giving New York a 7-3 lead and becoming the fifth Yankee to reach 50 homers.Greg Bird hit a two-run homer and Gary Sanchez followed Judge's record-breaking homer with his 33rd of the season as the Yankees lowered their magic number for clinching home field in next... [More]

RHP Felix Hernandez passed the 2,500-innings milestone during Monday's win over the Oakland Athletics. The 31-year-old joined RHP Justin Verlander as the only active pitchers to throw 2,500 or more innings for one team. Verlander accomplished the feat for the Detroit Tigers before getting traded to the Houston Astros earlier this season. Hernandez ran his career record against the A's to 25-9.

RHP Felix Hernandez will likely start for the Mariners on Monday in Oakland, Seattle manager Scott Servais said. Hernandez is 5-5 with a 4.57 ERA in 80 2/3 innings this season. Since returning from bursitis in his pitching shoulder, Hernandez is 0-1 with a 7.71 ERA over seven innings in two starts.

RHP Felix Hernandez will likely be limited to a 70-80 pitch count in his start on Wednesday, but Mariners manager Scott Servais said he could possibly go longer in his second start after returning from shoulder bursitis. "No real hard pitch count," Servais said. "We'll see where he's at. I can't imagine he'll go to 100 pitches." Hernandez is 5-4 with a 4.19 ERA in 77 1/3 innings in 2017.

RHP Felix Hernandez exited with two outs in the fourth after throwing 54 pitches Thursday at Texas. He was activated from the 10-day disabled list before the game. Hernandez was on a pitch count in his first start since coming off disabled list with right shoulder bursitis. He allowed one run on three hits.

RHP Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners was activated from the 10-day disabled list and will start Thursday's game against the host Texas Rangers, the team announced. Hernandez has been sidelined since Aug. 5 with right shoulder bursitis. The 2010 American League Cy Young Award winner owns a 5-4 mark with a 4.28 ERA in 13 starts this season. Hernandez is 19-23 with a 3.93 ERA in 52 career starts versus Texas, including 7-11 with a 4.38 ERA in 24 starts at Globe Life Park.

RHP Felix Hernandez (5-4, 4.28 ERA) is scheduled to make his 14th start of the season Thursday at the Rangers. It will be his first since a 10-day DL stint with right shoulder bursitis. Hernandez was also on the DL with right shoulder bursitis from April 26 to June 23. He took a no-decision in his last start, a 6-4 Mariners win on July 31 at Texas, going 5 1/3 innings and giving up four runs on six hits and three walks. The 31-year-old righty will be making his 53rd career start against the Rangers. He is 19-23 with a 3.93 ERA, including 7-11 with a 4.38 ERA in 24 starts at Globe Life Park.

RHP Felix Hernandez (shoulder bursitis) threw 50 pitches in a bullpen session on Monday. He will be evaluated on Tuesday, but the plan is for him to rejoin the rotation and start on Thursday in the final game of the current four-game series with Texas. Hernandez, 5-4 with a 4.28 ERA, last pitched July 31 at Texas, a no-decision.