Chicago @ Seattle preview

Last Meeting ( Jun 23, 2010 ) Chi. Cubs 1, Seattle 8

Your turn, Felix.

Felix Hernandez will try to continue an amazing run of pitching for the Seattle Mariners as they seek their seventh consecutive victory and second consecutive series sweep Thursday afternoon against the Chicago Cubs.

During their six-game winning streak, the Mariners have allowed one run or fewer with three shutouts. The major-league record of eight games allowing one run or fewer was set by the Kansas City Athletics in 1966.

The Mariners have not won seven in a row since June 23-July 1, 2007.

Despite the hot streak, the Mariners have been unable to gain any ground in the AL West as the Texas Rangers won their 10th consecutive game. They lead the last-place Mariners by 13 games.

Hernandez pitched a complete game in his last outing, a nine-strikeout performance against the Cincinnati Reds. He went 8 2/3 innings in the start before that and was pulled after throwing a career-high 128 pitches. He has a 3.39 ERA – admirable for any club, but only good enough for fourth among Mariners starters.

Cliff Lee, who threw his second complete game in Wednesday’s 8-1 victory, took over the American League ERA lead at 2.39. Teammate Doug Fister, who is scheduled to start Saturday for the first time since May 31 after fatigue in his shoulder, is tied for second with Tampa Bay’s David Price at 2.45. Mariners right-hander Jason Vargas is fifth at 2.66.

Of Lee’s 115 pitches, 90 were strikes and manager Don Wakamatsu said Lee had an 0-2 count on 19 batters. But his most astounding statistic continues to be his strikeouts-to-walks ratio. He had nine strikeouts with no walks, his fourth consecutive game without allowing a walk, raising his mark to 76 strikeouts with four walks. His ratio of 19-to-1 would shatter the all-time record of 11-to-1 set by Bret Saberhagen in 1994.

Thursday’s pitching matchup originally had a bit more intrigue as Carlos Silva was to face his former Seattle teammates. But Silva’s start was pushed back to Saturday because of a sore hamstring and Ted Lilly will start against Hernandez.

Lilly is coming off a miserable outing when he allowed eight runs – six earned – on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings in a 12-0 rout by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Lilly is 4-6 with a 5.85 ERA lifetime against the Mariners, but he has not faced them since 2006 when he pitched for Toronto.

Cubs center fielder Marlon Byrd has hit safely in nine road games after going 2-for-4 Wednesday. In that stretch, he is batting .526 (20-for-38) with six doubles, two homers, seven runs scored and eight multi-hit games.