He never recovered.

Moments after Jesus Montero’s solo home run against his former teammates put Seattle ahead, the New York Yankees rode a two-out, three-run home run by former Mariner Raul Ibañez to a two-run lead that became a 6-2 victory.

It wasn’t as if Hernandez was dominant one moment, lost the next – this one was a battle for him for most of his 62/3 innings. When he got to the sixth inning tied, it was as much a matter of will as control.

Though Hernandez may be one of those pitchers who can get away with subpar games like this – he allowed 11 hits in less than seven innings – he cannot do it without runs.

For five innings against New York and Hiroki Kuroda, the Mariners gave Felix one run, that coming on the first leadoff home run of Dustin Ackley’s career.

One batter. One swing. One run.

Six innings later, it was still all the Mariners had, and they would have trailed by then had left fielder Mike Carp not thrown out Alex Rodriguez at plate in the fourth inning.

“It was the first time I’ve really cut loose a throw since I got hurt in Jan,” Carp said. “I came up with the ball, tried to stay on top of it and made a pretty good throw.

“If nothing else, that’ll help my mindset from now on.”

That play was as much a matter of third base coach Rob Thomson’s poor decision as Carp’s arm. Had Thomson held up A-Rod, the Yankees would have had the bases loaded with no one out.

Instead, the game remained tied and a big inning was gutted.

So when Montero silenced Yankees fans with his fifth home run of the season, the Mariners had a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning.

Felix couldn’t hold it.

“I gave up a lot of singles but controlled it until that one pitch to Raul,” Hernandez said. “I started him each at-bat with a sinker but that pitch didn’t sink. That’s the one pitch tonight I want back.”

Hernandez uncharacteristically walked the first man he faced in the sixth, Rodriguez, and gave up one of Robinson Cano’s four hits to put two men on with no one out.

He rallied for a force out, then a strikeout – his seventh – to bring up Ibañez.

The man who came up through the Seattle organization is universally well-liked by those he has played with – the Mariners, Royals, Phillies and Yankees – and against.

After hitting his sixth home run into the right-field stands, Ibañez is still one of Hernandez’s favorite ex-teammates. He just didn’t like him quite as much for a few moments.

“One pitch, game over,” Hernandez said.

After six innings, it seemed that way. After nine, it was hard to argue, even though New York had tacked on two more against the Mariners’ bullpen.

“Maybe he wasn’t quite as sharp as we’ve seen Felix, but you have to remember, he was within a pitch in the sixth inning of taking a 2-1 lead into the seventh,” manager Eric Wedge said.

What beat the Mariners, Wedge said, were two innings filled with opportunity, none of them realized.

“One inning (the second), we had runners at first and second base, no one out; the other (the fifth), we had the bases loaded with one out, and we didn’t score either time,” Wedge said. “You get a run in each of those, different game.”

The Yankees wouldn’t argue.

In the second inning, the Mariners used a Kyle Seager single and walk to John Jaso to create a threat, but Kuroda retired Justin Smoak, Carp and Michael Saunders without allowing the runners to advance.

“I felt better tonight,” said Smoak, who had three hits. “But that first at-bat, I had a fastball over the plate, and I’ve got to do more with that.”

Again in the fifth, the Mariners rallied – singles by Smoak and Saunders, a walk to Ackley – this time with one out. Kuroda struck out Brendan Ryan, then got No. 3 hitter Ichiro Suzuki to ground into a force play at third base.

As a result, Hernandez had no margin to work with. After the sixth, he trailed 4-2, then was knocked flat on the mound by a Derek Jeter single up the middle.

“That was close,” Hernandez said, shaking his head. “I stayed down a minute on that one.”

It was Seattle’s seventh road loss in a row, and the trip gets no easier: two more against New York, then two in Boston, a pair in Cleveland and three in Colorado.

OOPS, IT’S A WINNER

Now it can be told: Saunders started the winning rally Wednesday at Safeco Field with an opposite-field double, scoring the winning run on a Jaso sacrifice fly.

The kicker?

“It was an excuse-me swing and I didn’t know where the ball was when I first hit it,” Saunders said Friday. “I thought maybe I’d fouled it off the other way. Then I saw it and took off.”

OLIVO REHABBING

Catcher Miguel Olivo isn’t on the trip, staying behind to rehab a strained groin muscle.

He’s far enough along he might catch a bullpen session or two with the Tacoma Rainiers. The team expects to re-evaluate him after the trip, then determine if he needs a stint in the minors before being activated.

TODAY

Seattle (Hector Noesi: 2-3, 6.30 ERA) at New York Yankees (Phil Hughes: 2-4, 6.67), 1:05 p.m., Root Sports, 1240-AM, 1030-AM

larry.larue@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/mariners Twitter: @LarryLarue

SEATTLE — After handing out some punishment on a few prior occasions, Seattle Mariners designated hitter John Jaso was hpy to take a beating Monday night.

Jaso hit a sacrifice fly to score pinch-runner Munenori Kawasaki and c a three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning for a 3-2 win over the Detroit Tigers.

Jaso and the Mariners won their third straight game — with a lot of help from Tigers veteran reliever Octavio Dotel.

Detroit manager Jim Leyland knew pregame that closer Jose Valverde would not be at his disposal, so he turned to Dotel with a 2-0 lead in the ninth — and he lacked any control from the start.

Dotel walked Brendan Ryan after nearly hitting him twice. A walk to Ichiro Suzuki followed, then a wild pitch, which advanced both runners. A visit from catcher Alex Avila along with a separate visit from pitching coach Jeff Jones during the inning could not settle Dotel down.

His first pitch to Jesus Montero with two runners on was again wide of Avila, which resulted in a passed ball and scored Ryan. Montero pushed the count to 3-0 before finally throwing a strike. Montero fouled off the next pitch, then doubled to deep center, the ball hitting the wall just left of the 405 marker, to drive in Suzuki and tie the game.

“You’ve got to look for the right pitch, and I think I had the right pitch,” Montero said of facing an erratic pitcher.

That was it for Dotel (1-1), who threw only four of his 16 pitches for strikes.

“Walks will kill you, and they killed us,” Leyland said.

Kyle Seager bunted Kawasaki to third, and Jaso followed with his fly to right to score Kawasaki and finish the rally.

Leyland chose to give Valverde the night off after three consecutive pearances. Leyland also decided prior to the game he would not use Joaquin Benoit.

The comeback denied Detroit starter Doug Fister his first win of the season in his second start. He was removed from his first start ril 7 after straining his left side. On Monday night, he allowed four hits, walked none and struck out three.

Seattle starter Blake Beavan left after being hit on the right elbow by a line drive in the third inning.

Beavan was in trouble in third after Austin Jackson singled and stole second. Andy Dirks moved Jackson to third with a single, bringing Miguel Cabrera to the plate. Cabrera’s strong line drive of an 0-1 pitch hit Beavan and the ball caromed to third baseman Seager, who picked it up to start what turned out to be a 1-5-4-3 inning-ending double play.

Beavan walked off the mound without wincing, but the Mariners immediately told Hisashi Iwakuma to warm-up in the bullpen. He took over in the fourth for Beavan, who was diagnosed with a right elbow contusion after throwing three innings and allowing one run. X-Rays of Beavan’s elbow were negative. He’s hopeful of making his next start and will be re-examined Tuesday morning.

Fister dominated his seven innings, retiring six in a row over the fourth and fifth. The only solid hit came from Justin Smoak, who drove a fly ball to deep center field. Fister threw less than 10 pitches in four of the first five innings.

After throwing four innings May 2 for Triple-A Toledo in his final rehabilitation start from a left costochondral strain, Fister, who the Mariners traded to Detroit last season, wasn’t on a specific pitch count. Leyland said he would “use common sense” when assessing how far into the game Fister could go. He wound up throwing 73 pitches.

Jhonny Peralta singled off Mariners reliever Shawn Kelley to open the seventh inning. Left-hander Charlie Furbush relieved Kelley with two outs in the seventh, and allowed a singled to Jackson, then walked Dirks to load the bases. Furbush won a battle with Cabrera, who grounded out to third base after a seven-pitch at-bat.

Prince Fielder reached on his second blooper of the night then scored on a broken-bat single by Brennan Boesch in the fourth inning. Iwakuma was able to strike out Ryan Raburn a pitch after Raburn pulled a line drive just foul down the left-field line.

Fielder’s first-inning bloop double down the left-field line drove in Dirks, who had doubled two batters earlier, to put Detroit ahead 1-0.

Steve Delabar (1-0) picked up the win with a scoreless ninth.

Notes: Seattle hit .322 in a three-game sweep of Detroit ril 24-26. . Monday’s visit to Seattle started Detroit’s run of 19 of the next 24 games on the road. . Detroit starter Justin Verlander, who will face Seattle on Tuesday, is 3-4 with a 4.44 ERA in his career at Safeco Field. Seattle has won Verlander’s last three starts at Safeco. … The Mariners lead the majors with the most blown leads in a loss (10).

SEATTLE — Jason Donald hit the ball in the perfect place to help the Cleveland Indians get a big win.

Donald’s tiebreaking single off Seattle reliever Tom Wilhelmsen in the top of the seventh cped the Indians’ rally from a seven-run deficit to beat the Mariners 9-8 Tuesday night.

“I didn’t hit it all that hard, but hit it in the right spot,” Donald said.

Mariners reliever Charlie Furbush (0-1) allowed a hit by Travis Hafner and a walk to Shelley Duncan before striking out the next two in the seventh and being replaced. However, Wilhelmsen could not close the inning, giving up Donald’s hit to right field.

Cleveland reliever Rafael Perez (1-0) pitched a scoreless sixth inning to pick up the win. Chris Perez got his third save in four tries, getting out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the ninth when John Jaso flew out to right field on a 2-0 pitch.

Earlier in the inning, a ground ball took a bad hop and hit Donald in the mouth before trickling into center field. That put runners on first and third with one out.

“A bad hop was an understatement,” said Donald, who finished with two hits and two RBIs. “I just saw it at the last second kick up. I didn’t put a glove on that thing, nothing. It was all face.

“Hopefully my girlfriend still wants to date me after getting smoked in the mouth like that.”

Justin Smoak had a career-high four hits for Seattle.

Carlos Santana’s three-run homer was the main blow in Cleveland’s seven-run fifth inning that tied the score at 8-all. It also gave the Indians a homer in every game this season.

After giving up a run in the first and following that with three scoreless innings, Seattle starter Kevin Millwood allowed five hits and did not get an out in the fifth.

“You try to figure out what’s not right and try to fix it,” Millwood said. “Tonight, I wasn’t able to do that.”

Donald’s fly to center off reliever Erasmo Ramirez tied the score and cped the Indians’ big inning. Once it was over, every Cleveland player had a hit.

Cleveland starter Justin Masterson was cruising along until the fourth inning. Leading 2-1, the Mariners put together five hits and scored six runs, plus Masterson walked two and hit a batter in the inning.

Ichiro Suzuki drove in two runs with a line drive to right field. After Smoak picked up his second single of the inning, Masterson was finally lifted after throwing 71 pitches in 3 2-3 innings. He allowed eight earned runs, walked four and gave up seven hits.

The Indians got on the board in the first when Hafner singled hard to left field to drive in Michael Brantley. It was a laborious first inning for Millwood, who threw 26 pitches, allowed two hits and walked one. By contrast, Masterson threw just nine pitches in a 1-2-3 first.

Millwood adjusted quickly. He threw 26 pitches over the next two innings and allowed just one hit before unraveling in the fifth.

Jaso hit a two-run homer to drive in Ryan, who had walked, in the bottom of the third inning to give the Mariners a 2-1 lead.

NOTES: Kyle Seager had the 50,000th hit in Mariners history, a single in the fourth inning. Smoak scored Seattle’s 25,000th run on a bases-loaded walk to Brendan Ryan in the same inning. … The Mariners gave catcher Miguel Olivo the day off. Olivo is hitting .111 this season and also has twice as many strikeouts (8) as hits (4). … The Indians don’t expect SS Asdrubal Cabrera back before their six-game road trip ends. Cabrera was placed on the bereavement list Tuesday following a family death. Cleveland called up LHP Nick Hagadone to replace Cabrera.