PHOENIX (AP)—Felix Hernandez had no choice but to challenge Ryan Braun.
Behind in the count to last year’s NL Rookie of the Year in the second inning, Hernandez threw Braun a mid-90s fastball. The pitcher never bothered turning to watch the flight of the ball.
“For what?” Hernandez said. “I saw that ball coming off the bat. I knew where it was going.”
Braun’s monster home run clanged loudly more than halfway up the towering batter’s eye in center field, but the Milwaukee Brewers lost to the Seattle Mariners 5-2 on Thursday.
Braun, who had 34 homers in 113 games last year after his May 25 debut, said he wasn’t trying to hit it over the batter’s eye, even though he got close.
“Nice, huh?” said Braun, who called Hernandez the best pitcher he’s ever faced. “It’s fun to compete against like that early on in spring training.”
Hernandez also allowed a solo home run to Rickie Weeks in the third inning, but the Mariners need not worry about their electric right-hander even after his impressive campaign last year was derailed by a strained elbow that sent him to the DL for over four weeks.
Hernandez, who threw 44 pitches, struck out the side in the fourth, including last year’s NL home run king Prince Fielder and Braun, once he began mixing in his curveball and offspeed pitches. He finished with five strikeouts, and the only hits he allowed were the homers.
“Those were bullets,” said Hernandez, who gave up 20 homers in 30 starts last season. “I got behind on fastball counts and just challenged them. They got them.”
But that was it for the Brewers.
Relievers Ryan Feierabend, Jake Woods, Sean White and Cesar Jimenez combined to throw five hitless innings. Feierabend got the win, while Jimenez got a save.
Brewers ace Ben Sheets was also efficient in his second spring start. Working quickly as usual, he retired the side in six pitches in the first and finished three innings allowing two hits while striking out three.
“I just work on trying to get outs, trying to get the ball down, throw strikes,” Sheets said. “I threw maybe five curves, four or five curves, three or four change(ups).”
Zach Jackson took the loss after allowing three unearned runs in the sixth after an error by Weeks, the second baseman. Greg Norton hit a two-run homer in the eighth to cap the scoring.
Notes
Adrian Beltre left the game and got ice after taking a groundball off his thumb. Mariners manager John McLaren said he didn’t think it was serious, but the Gold Glove third baseman will be reevaluated Friday. … Brewers RHP Yovani Gallardo threw for about five minutes on Thursday as he recovers from left knee surgery. He is expected to return in April, but may miss a couple of turns in the starting rotation.
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