Mariners Log: Paxton extends scoreless streak, M’s earn first series win
Paxton extends scoreless winning streak to 21 innings
What happened: James Paxton extended his scoreless inning streak to 21 after eight shutout frames on Saturday, and the Mariners beat Texas for the second night in a row to earn their first series win of the season.
The streak is the longest to start the season in Seattle’s history. Paxton became the 10th pitcher in MLB history to toss at least six scoreless innings in his first three starts of the season.
The lefty allowed only two hits from the Rangers and struck out nine batters. The Rangers got into scoring position only one when Texas’ Joey Gallo stol third base in the sixth after he doubled on a line drive to center field, Paxton kept Gollo stranded when he struck out Delino DeShields on the next at-bat and forced Crlos Gomez to pop up a bunt to third base.
Line Outs
- Seattle’s James Paxton earns three straight strikouts in the top of the third inning. Paxon denied the next six batters in the following two innings a hit, forcing three fly outs, two short grounders and a strikout on a foul tip.
- Valencia instilled hope in Seattle fans during the bottom of the fifth with a long line drive to the corner of right field that sent him to third, but he was left stranded after the Mariners grounded out on the following two at-bats.
- The Rangers’ Joey Gallo doubled on a line drive to center field in the sixth. He attempted to steal after Paxton threw the ball in the dirt, but was called out. The play went under review and was overturned, but the third baseman was denied the opportunity to score after Carlos Gomez popped a bunt up to third to end the inning. The six scoreless innings marked Paxton as the 10th player in MLB history to allow no runs in at least six innings in his first three starts of the season.
- Motter smacked a home run into the left-field stands to push the Mariners’ lead to 5-0 in the sixth.
- Paxton strikes out his final batter of the night, Gallo, in the eighth inning on a knuckle curve ball that went in the dirt. The final out marked 21-straight scoreless innings for the lefty.
- Seattle closer Nick Vincent sealed the shutout win with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
Nelson Cruz notched the first hit of the game with a hrd grounder along the third-base line. Cruz was held at second after the ball got lodged under the wall just beyond third base. Cruz moved to third on Kyle Seager’s sacrifice fly to right field and Mariners newcomer Taylor Motter walked on a full count, but Danny Valencia’s grouner to shortstop turned into a double play for the Rangers and ended the inning with no score.
Robinson Cano’s drive up the middle in the bottom of the sixth inning was stopped by Elvis Andrus, who flipped the ball to second in attempt to throw out Mitch Haniger but overthrew it to keep Haniger safe on second. With one out, Seager hit a grounder off a an inside, 3-2 change up to drive in Seattle’s first two scores of the night.
Tweet of the Day
Players of the Game
Hero: James Paxton. Of course.
Goat: Robinson Cano. Earned zero hits in four appearances at the plate. The only time Cano managed to get on base was because of an error, which could have resulted in a double play for the Rangers if Texas’ Elvis Andrus had made a clean toss to second.
Mariners Notes
Mitch Haniger extended his hitting streak to a career-best nine games. During the streak he is hitting .361, including three home runs and seven RBIs…Taylor Motter is hitting .389 and has notched four doubles and two home runs in his last five games…Kyle Seager extended his hitting streak to five games on Saturday. He is .412 in the streak.
Next Game
Seattle Mariners (4-8) vs. Texas Rangers (4-7) on Sunday at 1:10 p.m. at Safeco Field.
What others are saying
Paxton has yet to give up a run this season. The big left-hander threw eight shutout innings last night and the bullpen held up in the 5-0 win over the visiting Texas Rangers. … Yes, Paxton is emerging as an ace. But the big news about the M’s nationally last week was grasshoppers. … Hey, Ichiro is back this week with the Marlins. But there is one more game with Texas first. … Leonys Martin is struggling. If he doesn’t start hitting, the bench may beckon.