SEATTLE - They call him "The King" for a reason.

Actually, ace right-hander Felix Hernandez has earned the moniker for several reasons: His staggering repertoire of lethal pitches, his on-field intensity, the way he goes deep into games and how he has never lost his first start of the season.

The latter was on display Monday as Hernandez turned in another dominating Opening Day performance to lead the Seattle Mariners to a 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels at Safeco Field.

The victory improved Hernandez's record to 6-0 in eight career openers, all with the Mariners.

A season after finishing second in the American League Cy Young voting to Indians right-hander Corey Kluber, Hernandez began the 2015 regular season right where he left off. He allowed just two hits and one run over seven innings while striking out 10, walking one and hitting a batter. It marked the third time the Venezuela native has recorded at least 10 strikeouts in an Opening Day start.

The Angels took a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first when center fielder Mike Trout, the reigning American League Most Valuable Player, came back from an 0-2 count to hit a solo homer off Hernandez on the eighth pitch of the at-bat. In a matchup of two All-Stars, Hernandez went on to strike out Trout the next two times they faced. Trout fanned again against reliever Carson Smith in the eighth with runners on first and second, drawing perhaps the most boisterous applause from an announced sellout crowd of 45,909.

The new-look Mariners offense got going in the third off Angels starter Jered Weaver (0-1) when leadoff hitter Austin Jackson hit a two-out double, right fielder Seth Smith - acquired this offseason in a trade from the Padres -- followed with an RBI triple and second baseman Robinson Cano drove him in with an RBI single back up the middle. The flurry of offense put the Mariners up 2-1.

Meanwhile, after Trout's home run, Hernandez didn't give up another hit until shortstop Erick Aybar led off the fifth with a single. He then hit C.J. Cron to put runners on first and second, but followed that by striking out catcher Chris Iannetta and getting second baseman Johnny Giavotella to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to escape the jam.

Left fielder Dustin Ackley then began the bottom of the fifth with a towering solo home run. Later in the inning, Smith struck again with a ground-rule RBI double to extend the lead to 4-1. The drive made him the first player in Mariners history to have three extra-base hits on Opening Day, but he never got a fourth at-bat because manager Lloyd McClendon pinch-hit outfielder Justin Ruggiano for him in the bottom of the seventh. Smith finished 3-for-3 with two doubles, a triple and two RBIs.

In the ninth, closer Fernando Rodney worked around a leadoff walk to first baseman Albert Pujols to retire the side, as the Mariners won on Opening Day for the ninth year in a row.

NOTES: Right-handed pitcher Felix Hernandez entered Monday 5-0 with a 1.52 ERA and 52 strikeouts in a club-record, seven Opening Day starts. That ERA ranks seventh in MLB history for pitchers who have made a minimum of five Opening Day starts. His eight Opening Day nods for Seattle is also a club record, as are the wins. He lowered his Opening Day ERA by allowing just one run in seven innings on Monday... On this date 38 years ago (April 6, 1977), the Mariners played their first game in franchise history, losing 7-0 to the California Angels at the Kingdome. ... Despite Safeco Field's reputation as a pitcher's paradise, Los Angeles right-hander Jered Weaver began Monday with a 4.49 ERA and a 7-8 record in 17 starts at the park. But his seven wins are tied with Progressive Field in Cleveland for the most he's had at any road stadium, and are tied for the most for any visiting pitcher at Safeco dating back to 2006.