Rare hiccup for Felix vs. Twins

SEATTLE — Felix Hernandez has pitched his way out of trouble with amazing consistency this season, but the Mariners ace couldn’t find the answers in an ill-fated third inning on Friday night as the Twins topped Seattle, 7-2.

Opposing hitters were 4-for-52 with runners in scoring position against Hernandez in his first 59 innings of the season until the Twins went 4-for-7 in the third frame to push across five runs en route to their first win against him since 2011.

“It’s frustrating,” Hernandez said. “We’ve been on a pretty good roll, but sometimes it’s going to happen. We just have to go out there tomorrow and play a good game.”

The third-inning struggles were a surprising setback for Hernandez, who hadn’t given up more than four earned runs in any of his first nine starts of the season. He settled back in and allowed just an infield single over three final frames, but the damage was done as he fell to 4-4 with a 2.86 ERA.

“Obviously he’s a great pitcher and has had a great career and has pitched a lot of great ball games here, just tonight was not one of them,” said manager Scott Servais. “They just got going on him there in the third inning and he couldn’t get them off his stuff. It happens. He’s going to start 34 or 35 games for us and I hope that’s …

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