The 2018 version of Félix Hernández continues to be a perplexing conundrum for the Mariners, though his Thursday start against the Red Sox did bare at least one striking revelation.



Hernandez is not a broken pitcher.



Inconsistent? Sure, that’s fair. But broken? Not by any stretch of the imagination.



That was evident against one of baseball’s best offenses, as Hernández yielded a pair of runs over seven innings, with one walk and six strikeouts. It wasn’t his best start of the season, but it might have been his most important.



With pitcher Rob Whalen promoted from Triple-A Tacoma earlier in the day – just in case the Mariners needed some length from the bullpen Thursday (or beyond Thursday) – Hernández did more than keep Seattle close in a game the Mariners eventually lost 2-1.



He showed that he still has it.



It might not be there inning-to-inning, start-to-start, but...