Mariners ace Hernandez leaves game with elbow tightness in first inning

 

SEATTLE (AP) -Mariners ace Felix Hernandez left Wednesday night’s 5-3 loss to Minnesota with tightness in his pitching elbow after he got just one out and allowed his first two runs of the season.
Dr. Mitchel Storey, a team physician, examined the 21-year-old phenom after he left the game for what Seattle announced as “precautionary reasons.” Hernandez, who left the stadium before the game ended, was to be re-evaluated Thursday.
gout. Manager Mike Hargrove came out, too.
After Hernandez briefly walked around the mound and squatted behind the pitching rubber, Hargrove summoned long reliever Jake Woods out of the dugout to replace the pitching star of the young season.
“Obviously, I don’t feel real good about it right now. But I don’t know if I should feel real bad about it,” Hargrove said.
“A gut feeling? Felix is going to be OK. But I have nothing to base it on.”
Hernandez walked slowly off the field and tilted his cap back from his forehead while he talked to Griffin, who was at his side. At one point, Hernandez opened the palm of his hand toward the sky as if to tell Griffin he didn’t know what had happened.
Hernandez was charged with two walks – the second when Woods threw ball four to Morneau – and threw a wild pitch that bounced in the opposite batters’ box during his one-third of an inning. Though his velocity was near normal, reaching 96 mph on the scoreboard radar gun, only 12 of his 24 pitches were strikes on a chilly night. His wild pitch scored Luis Castillo, the first run off Hernandez in 17 1-3 innings this season.