TJ Cotterill
The News Tribune
SEATTLE — Oh, Canadian.
Of course James Paxton would mow down Kansas City Royals batters this cloudy Sunday at Safeco Field. After all, it was Canada Day, Paxton is from British Columbia, he tossed his first career no-hitter in Toronto and the Seattle Mariners unveiled their first Paxton bobblehead, which featured a detachable eagle for his right shoulder.
The lefty from Ladner soared through eight shutout innings. He struck out 11 batters, allowed just two hits and two walks and the Mariners offense scored their fortuitous run in the second inning but nothing after in a 1-0 victory.
Canada Day?
“Paxton Day,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “Just say it — Paxton Day.”
Just the fact that Paxton’s start lined up with the day to honor his native soil was chilling enough.
Then you add his first Mariners bobblehead — which he admittedly gathered many of them in his locker — a crowd of 38,344 around him, the Maple Grove chanting “Eh, eh, eh” whenever he got two strikes against a batter, and then the eight shutout innings. This was meant to be.
“It was really cool pitching on Canada Day,” Paxton said with a smile. “The bobblehead also. That was a lot of fun.
“I had a good fastball and the curveball and cutter both working. So we had stuff to go to late in the count to get strikeouts and Mike (Zunino) did a great job calling the game behind the plate.”
Paxton earned his eighth win and led the Mariners (54-31) pushed their season-best win streak to seven games while improving to a season-high 24 wins above .500.
Oh, and the reigning World Series champion Houston Astros lost to the Tampa Bay Rays earlier in the day. So the Mariners kicked off July just a half-game back of the Astros in the American League West standings and with a sweep of the Royals heading into their Monday off day.
Paxton threw 100 pitches through seven innings, but Mariners manager Scott Servais elected to let Paxton keep going into the eighth with the bottom of the Royals’ order due.
He quickly got Alcides Escobar to fly out and then struck out Drew Butera on a 97-mph fastball. He cranked that up to 99-mph on the final pitch of his outing, getting Whit Merrifield to fly out to left field, ending his day after 110 pitches.
“It’s just adrenaline,” Paxton said. “It felt really good, and at that point I was letting it rip, trying to empty the tank there.”
Letting it rip. That’s a term Servais and pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. have emphasized with Paxton this season, to flash his near 100-mph stuff and make hitters catch up to him.
Servais was asked how rare it is for pitchers to get stronger throughout the game as Paxton seems to frequently do.
“Those guys are top-of-the-rotation guys,” he said. “Those are the best 5-10 guys in the league and we’re lucky to have one. It says something about his talent, but also the preparation and what he does in between starts. When he gets to the point when he has the ability to take over and lets it rip, as I like to call it, we see good things.”
It was Paxton Day, but it’s Edwin Diaz Season.
Diaz closed out the ninth by doing what he does so electrically — striking out the side — and earned his major-league leading 32nd save, which is already three more than Kazuhiro Sasaki’s previous Mariners record for saves before the All-Star break.
Diaz is now one of two pitchers in MLB history, joining former Los Angeles Dodgers closer Eric Gagne to have at least 30 saves and 70 strikeouts before the All-Star break. And we still have two weeks until the midsummer classic.
Now, how about that Mariners’ offense?
They had six hits against Royals starter Bradley Keller but the only one that went for extra bases was Kyle Seager’s two-out double in the seventh inning.They had six hits against Royals starter Bradley Keller but the only one that went for extra bases was Kyle Seager’s two-out double in the seventh inning. He was stranded at third base, but Seager scored their only run of the game in the second.
Seager just beat the shift with a single to right field, Ryon Healy followed with a single and Ben Gamel’s bat shattered on contact with Keller’s one-out pitch. But the ball blooped into center field and Seager turned on the wheels to slide safely home from second base. So the Mariners had a one-run lead.
Jean Segura singled with two outs in the third inning, but then Royals starter Brad Keller retired 11 consecutive batters after that.
Paxton dialed his fastball up to 98 mph on three consecutive pitches before striking out Hunter Dozier to end the fourth inning.
He was one strike away from striking out the side in the fifth inning. Paxton settled for two Ks and he had eight of those entering the sixth inning.
But Paxton kept rolling. He didn’t strike out a batter in the sixth, but followed with back-to-back strikeouts in the seventh to reach double digits — and got Dozier to swing through another 98-mph fastball.
“I was happy to see him in the eighth — it was one of those I know he was at 100 pitches but he’s one of those guys who builds up steam as he gets going,” Zunino said.
“The guys I’ve caught for, there haven’t been too many like that. But you see the greats who have been doing it for a while. The Verlanders, the Sales, Scherzers — those guys get stronger throughout the game and Paxton has been showing that.”
This is the seventh time this season Paxton has struck out at least 10 batters in a game, and it’s the ninth such outing of his career.
Before this season, Paxton’s career-high was 10 strikeouts, set last year in a win over the Boston Red Sox, as well as a 2016 loss to the Cleveland Indians and in a 2013 start against the Royals.
Now he’s done that in back-to-back starts after fanning 10 in seven innings in last week’s win in Baltimore.
“Obviously late in the game he dialed it up with the fastball and emptied the tank,” Servais said. “He knows where he’s at pitch-count wise and lets it go. He had an overpowering fastball. That last inning you send him out with 100 pitches and you don’t’ know which way it’s going to go, but he wanted to go back out there and glad we sent him back out.”
