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Seattle Mariners

Mariners Pregame: James Paxton puts scoreless streak on line, lineups and starter matchup

Seattle Mariners starting pitcher James Paxton, shown here against the Texas Rangers on April 15, 2017, goes for his third win of the season on Thursday against Oakland. (Elaine Thompson / Associated Press)
By Dave Nichols daven@spokesman.com(509) 459-5441

The Seattle Mariners open a 10-game, 11-day, three-city road trip tonight with the first of four games against the Oakland Athletics

The M’s also travel to Detroit and Cleveland for three-game series during the second road trip of the season. Seattle was 6-3 on its just concluded season-opening nine-game homestand against Houston (1-2), Texas (3-0) and Miami (2-1).

In his last start, James Paxton threw eight scoreless innings in the Mariners 5–0 home win over the Rangers on April 15. Paxton has tossed at least six scoreless innings in each of his first three starts this season.

He is the fourth pitcher in American League history to throw at least six innings without allowing a run in each of his first three games of a season, joining Ray Caldwell of the 1914 Yankees, Luis Tiant of the 1966 Indians, and Jordan Zimmermann of the 2016 Tigers.

Lineups and starter matchup

Game 17: Seattle Mariners at Oakland Athletics (), 7:07 p.m., Oakland Coliseum

Courtesy @MarinersPR
Courtesy @MarinersPR

Starters: LHP James Paxton (2-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Cesar Valdez (0-0, —-)

Mariners Notes

  • OF Mitch Haniger extended his hitting streak to 13 games, going 3 for 4 with three runs scored, one double and four RBIs Wednesday against the Marlins. Haniger is the first rookie to have a hitting streak of at least 13 games beginning in his team’s first five games of a season since Rocco Baldelli in 2003.
  • Since 2013, the Mariners are 27-12 (.692) in 39 games against the Athletics at the Oakland Coliseum, including winning 12 of the last 13 games at Oakland (July 5, 2015–present). Seattle’s .692 winning percentage at the Oakland Coliseum since 2013 is the best in the Majors of any visiting team (min. 10 games).
  • OF/DH Nelson Cruz currently has an eight-game hitting streak against the Athletics dating back to Aug. 13, 2016. During this stretch he is batting .382 (13 for 34) with five runs scored, three doubles, three home runs, eight RBI, one walk and one stolen base.

This Day in Mariners History

In 1992, Randy Johnson threw his second consecutive four-hit shutout on this date against Minnesota (also April 11 vs. KC). Johnson struck out 21 in the two games (11 & 10 K’s respectively).