Seattle, WA – Batman had the Joker. Superman had General Zod.
Felix Hernandez's nemesis this season has been the Texas Rangers.
Leonys Martin hit a homer and drove in four runs as the Rangers pounded the Seattle right-hander again and swept this three-game set at Safeco Field with Wednesday's 12-4 thrashing.
Adrian Beltre and Elvis Andrus each had three hits and two RBI for the AL West-leading Rangers, who posted their seventh win in nine games.
Martin Perez (8-3) won his career-best fifth straight start after tossing six innings. He held the Mariners without a hit through three frames and allowed just solo homers by Dustin Ackley and Kyle Seager.
"He's growing. You're watching it right in front of your eyes, and I think you just need to watch it and enjoy it," Rangers manager Ron Washington said about Perez. "He just goes out there and he does what he does and that's throw fastballs down in the zone, change speeds and use his breaking ball and move it around."
Hernandez (12-8) was far from effective in his brief outing. He was roughed up for nine runs -- eight earned -- on 11 hits in three-plus innings.
The 2010 AL Cy Young Award winner is now 0-4 with a 7.57 ERA in five meetings with Texas this year. He has also dropped three consecutive starts and four of five overall.
Ackley added an RBI double in the ninth for the Mariners, who were winless during their six-game homestand.
"I thought we showed signs of some fight and better (at-bats) and better play, but overall we're still pretty sloppy as a ball club and not executing, whether it be offensively or defensively," said Seattle manager Eric Wedge.
After stranding men on the corners in the first, the Rangers scored 10 runs over the next three innings.
Hernandez looked to escape another 1st-and-3rd jam in the second, but Martin belted a two-out, three-run homer the opposite way to left field.
The Rangers had two men on base again in the third, and Geovany Soto plated both with a two-out single.
In the fourth, Texas put up a five-spot before an out was recorded. Martin and Ian Kinsler sandwiched run-scoring singles around Andrus' RBI double before Beltre greeted Brandon Maurer by crushing the reliever's second pitch to left field for a two-run homer.
The Rangers scored two more runs off Maurer in the seventh to go up 12-2. Mitch Moreland led off with a homer to right and Andrus knocked in David Murphy with a two-out single.
Game Notes
Hernandez made his 266th career start, tying Randy Johnson for the second-most in Mariners history. Jamie Moyer owns the club record with 323 starts ... Hernandez's ERA climbed from 2.63 to 2.97 ... Beltre extended his hitting streak against Seattle to 13 games ... Texas tied the club mark for wins in August with 19 ... The Rangers won the season series, 12-7.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.