Mariners tag Cole Hamels again in rout of Rangers

Cole Hamels said that he doesn’t know what has gone wrong in his past two starts, in which he has surrendered 13 earned runs in six innings.

The ace left-hander said that he will dig into video of his most recent lousy outing, try to find solutions in his between-starts bullpen session, and get back on a mound Saturday.

Hamels was tagged for seven runs in only 1  2/3 innings, and the Seattle Mariners scored seven more against the Rangers’ bullpen in a 14-6 victory at Safeco Field.

“For me, it’s just the disappointment in knowing what I’m capable of doing and not being able to put our team in a position to win,” Hamels said. “When you play a team twice, sometimes that does happen, but it’s a matter of not executing pitches whatsoever.”

Nomar Mazara and Rougned Odor hit home runs as the Rangers scored six times against Felix Hernandez for the second time in five days. Odor’s solo shot to start the sixth was his 30th homer of the season.

Mazara’s three-run shot was part of a five-run third inning that trimmed a 7-0 deficit to two runs, and the Rangers were down 8-6 after Odor connected. But Yohander Mendez, making his major league debut, and fellow rookie Jose Leclerc allowed six runs in the sixth to turn the game into a rout.

For Hamels, the outing was the second shortest of his career. The shortest — at two-thirds of an inning June 1, 2010 — was the result of his not returning after a long first-inning rain delay.

The seven runs were a season-high, eclipsing the six runs he allowed last week to the Mariners in a no-decision, and the most he has allowed since coughing up nine runs last season while pitching for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Hamels allowed five runs to the Minnesota Twins in back-to-back starts in July, but it was revealed 10 days later that he had been pitching with a blister on his left index finger.

That isn’t the case this time, nor does he believe that he is tiring after 28 starts and 174  2/3 innings.

“I feel good,” Hamels said. “I’m just, unfortunately, not doing what I’m capable of doing. Sometimes it happens. You don’t want it to happen, ever, but it’s the nature of what I’m going through at this given time.

“It’s just a matter of going out there knowing that I get a couple days to figure it out and get back to normal and attack the zone.”

Hamels (14-5, 3.25 ERA) struggled from the outset, allowing a leadoff walk to Guillermo Heredia in a nine-pitch plate appearance. Robinson Cano connected two batters later for a 2-0 lead.

After Nelson Cruz bounced out, four straight Mariners reached and three scored for a 5-0 lead. They scored two more in the second, first on a one-out solo shot by Franklin Gutierrez and then a two-out single by Dae-Ho Lee that ended Hamels’ day.

The final numbers: Seven hits, seven runs, three walks and four strikeouts on a whopping 62 pitches. Hamels often pitched from behind in the count, unable to command the lower part of the strike zone, and was hit hard once he elevated.

“He didn’t get the quality of strike that he wanted,” manager Jeff Banister said. “I don’t think it was a rhythm issue, just more that he didn’t get it on the edge like he’d like to and didn’t get it in the swing-and-miss zones.”

Odor went 3 for 4 with two RBIs and is batting .536 (15 for 28) with six homers and 16 RBIs during a six-game hitting streak. He is a leading candidate to be named American League Player of the Week on Tuesday.

He became the third second baseman in franchise history with a 30-homer season, joining Alfonso Soriano and Ian Kinsler; the fifth Rangers players age 22 or younger with 30, joining Jeff Burroughs, Pete Incaviglia, Ruben Sierra and Juan Gonzalez; and the seventh player since 2000 to have 30 homers at age 22 or younger.

That group includes Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Giancarlo Stanton, Miguel Cabrera and Albert Pujols.

“I feel good,” Odor said. “This is an honor for me to be in that group.”

But with the hole the Mariners put Hamels and the Rangers in, Odor’s 30th was for naught.

“I understand what we’re trying to accomplish here,” Hamels said. “To not be able to do it twice in a row in the type of situations I’ve come out of the game with, there’s probably more disappointment in not being able to give this team a chance to win, especially when we put runs on the board.”

This story was originally published September 5, 2016 at 8:18 PM with the headline "Mariners tag Cole Hamels again in rout of Rangers."