The News Tribune · Jul 1, 2018
Mariners' Hernandez dealing with back stiffness; Cruz turns 38, but how long can he keep hitting?
Felix Hernandez said he stood for the entire game during his Saturday night start against the Kansas City Royals because his back was giving him so much pain.
It didn’t prevent him from starting, but he was clearly grimacing when he picked up a bunt sent his way from the Royals’ Adalberto Mondesi to lead off the fifth inning.
Seattle Mariners manager Scott Servais didn’t seem to indicate that Hernandez might miss his next scheduled start, especially with an off-day on Monday pushing it back.
“We’ll monitor it,” Servais said Sunday morning. “It loosened up last night. The first inning was obviously not good and the results were bad, too. The ball was up, but we’ll just keep an eye on it.”