Mariners Win 7-1 Over Padres Courtesy of King Felix & Power Display

Cashner struggled a bit today. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

After the Friars won in thrilling fashion last night, San Diego struggled mightily this afternoon as they lost to Seattle by a score of 7-1.

Andrew Cashner started today for the Padres, and he had some serious trouble when it came to allowing gopher-balls.  Nick Franklin, Brendan Ryan and Kendrys Morales all went deep for Seattle off of the flame-throwing right-hander.  In fact, those three guys provided their own pitching staff with more than enough runs this afternoon.

Overall, the “beard-less” Cashner allowed four runs on seven hits during six innings of work, and he didn’t receive much help from Tim Stauffer in relief either.  Stauffer pitched two innings of relief and gave up two home runs of his own to Franklin and Endy Chavez during the seventh and eighth innings as well.

Although Cashner struggled at times, Felix Hernandez was downright dominant in his outing.  “King Felix” only allowed one run on three hits as he basically kept San Diego’s hitters guessing all afternoon during eight strong innings of work.  Even though Hernandez’s success came at the Padres’ expense, he is definitely one of the most exciting starters to watch in the entire league.

As a lineup, the Padres had an extremely had time at the plate today, and their only run came courtesy of a Carlos Quentin sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth.  Only eight guys reached base on the afternoon as San Diego’s hitters struggled mightily to get things going offensively against “King Felix.”

Tomorrow, the Friars will continue with the “interleague theme” when they play the first game of their three-game weekend series with the Toronto Blue Jays at Petco Park.

Let’s just hope that the Padres can begin to string some solid offensive performances together over the coming days.