"Felix Hernandez couldn't throw his trademark sinker where he wanted and looked like he would be out of the game early.

But Hernandez toughened up when he had to. And in one of his grittier performances as a Mariner, he wound up tossing eight innings of three-run ball against a Detroit Tigers lineup as hot as any in baseball.

"Today was hard," he said. "I got in a lot of trouble and didn't have good command. But I found a way to throw eight innings and win the game."

Hernandez, who tied a season high with five walks, made an adjustment, used his four-seam fastball more and saw his curveball find new life. He struck out six, but the key to his going deep was getting the Tigers to put the ball in play.

Three inning-ending double plays — including the sixth and seventh — got Hernandez out of jams in a hurry.

"He dug deep," Mariners manager Eric Wedge said. "He had to battle early, then he ran through some innings in good fashion, then he had to battle again that last inning."

The Tigers got two on with none out in the eighth. But Wedge went to the mound, looked at Hernandez and catcher Miguel Olivo, and said he saw "in their eyes" that they could get through it.

Hernandez allowed one run on a two-out single by Alex Avila, but escaped the jam with a 5-3 lead."