Eh, Mariners' James Paxton made history — first Canadian pitcher with 16 strikeouts in a game
Some night.
If James Paxton wasn’t in a conversation among the best left-handers in baseball, he should be now.
And that conversation should probably include the word “Eh” 16 times – as in a career-high sixteen strikeouts for Paxton.
The only shame was he didn’t earn the win. Paxton is the first Canadian-born player in major-league history to have that many strikeouts in a game. And that kind of thing hasn’t happened for a Seattle Mariners pitcher since Randy Johnson towered on their mound more than 20 years ago.
No pitcher in the major leagues had more than 14 in a game so far this season (the Astros' Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole).
"I probably had the best fastball I’ve had of my career," Paxton said. "It was jumping. We were using the top of the zone and guys were swinging right through it.
“It gives me a lot of confidence, as far as the game plan goes and how I work hitters and everything. It was a big step forward for me tonight.”
Paxton tipped his cap as he walked to the dugout amid a roaring crowd at Safeco Field — and certainly in Paxton's Maple Grove fan section in the upper deck in left field — after he had Jake Smolinski chasing a 97-mph fastball to end the seventh inning. That was his final pitch in milestone start, leaving with a 2-0 lead against the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday at Safeco Field.
Paxton has barreled fastballs at hitters before, but this was different, especially the spin on his four-seam fastball up in the zone.
“It was an electric fastball,” Mariners pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. said. “There’s times he feathers and tries to make a perfect pitch early and it really sucks that life out of his fastball. We’ve talked a lot about what he’s capable of being and having that plus-fastball and not taking that stuff down and letting guys off the hook.
“His first fastball of the game was 92 (mph). He feathered it in. And the second one was 94 and the third one was 96 and from that point on he got going.”
Stottlemyre watched plenty of Johnson when he was with the Diamondbacks organization. This left-hander was quite similar.
“Man, no doubt,” Stottlemyre said.
"And I tell you, the one thing he did so well – and he’s come along ways – is being able to read barrels. He knew he had a good fastball and he was just changing the eyes all night. That was a difference-maker."
Paxton threw 105 pitches, 80 for strikes. He pounded the strike zone and overpowered hitters with fastballs, once hitting 98.7 mph.
He threw 76 fastballs, 12 cutters and 11 knuckle curveballs. That’s a lot of relying on one pitch.
But he struck out every batter he faced in the A's lineup at least one time, except for hot-hitting second baseman Jed Lowrie. He fanned Chad Pinder, Khris Davis and Stephen Piscotty three times each.
“Paxton was gross today,” Athletics utilityman Mark Canha said.
“He was pumping that heater right by us,” Lowrie said.
“Paxton had great stuff tonight and was handing it to us,” said A’s coach Bob Melvin. “I lost count of the strikeouts on my card.”
But all that and the Mariners ... lost?
Lowrie followed the next inning with a two-run home run against Mariners reliever Juan Nicasio to tie the game and Canha hit the go-ahread home run against Edwin Diaz, who was fresh off of earning American League reliever of the month, in the top of the ninth to steal the win.
Nicasio entered the game leading the major leagues in holds (11), while Diaz was leading in saves (12) and had only allowed one run.
Brutal.
But Paxton's night was one for the record books.
Paxton, aka "The Big Maple" for his Canadian decent, was three strikeouts shy of the Mariners’ all-time record. Randy Johnson struck out 19 batters in two different games in 1997.
But only Johnson, Mark Langston and Mike Moore have struck out at least 16 batters in a game for the Mariners. So this is something that hasn’t happened in almost 21 years.
"Unfortunately we weren’t able to get him the 'W,' but really from the get-go that was as lively of a fastball as I think I've ever seen Paxton have," Mariners manager Scott Servais said. "Definitely a great outing by him.
"He had all of the pitches working but the fastball was just so dominant tonight. He got it down in the zone early and elevated it late and the punch-outs just started racking up and it was fun to watch. It really was."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="tl" dir="ltr">EH! EH! EH! EH! EH! <a href="https://t.co/2lDCoz1tta">pic.twitter.com/2lDCoz1tta</a></p>— Mariners (@Mariners) <a href="https://twitter.com/Mariners/status/991867220757118977?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 3, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Is a baker's dozen still 13 in Canada?<br><br>Because that's what Pax has now.<br><br> Mariners 2, Athletics 0. <a href="https://t.co/XmBYreQH9A">pic.twitter.com/XmBYreQH9A</a></p>— Mariners (@Mariners) <a href="https://twitter.com/Mariners/status/991880353060044801?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 3, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Dominance.<br><br>Big STRIKES OUT THE SIDE. Seven innings, punchouts. <a href="https://t.co/dpRdZ8Omwr">pic.twitter.com/dpRdZ8Omwr</a></p>— Mariners (@Mariners) <a href="https://twitter.com/Mariners/status/991884549490552832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 3, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
So why did Paxton stay in the dugout during the eighth inning?
He threw 25 pitches in the seventh to push him to 105, and more concerning was the walk to Jonathan Lucroy, though Paxton had him down 1-2 before issuing the walk after eight pitches.
Stottlemyre stepped out to the mound and told Paxton to empty the gas tank.
“He had spun some bullets that inning,” Stottlemyre said. “Certainly we’re going to allow him to go 115 pitches. It’s a long season, though, and it’s a balance – you have to have your horse out there and I know you need to let him run, but you can’t let it get ahead of the barn in every game and all year long if we’re trying to keep him healthy.”
And they are. Health has been one of the few things holding Paxton back the past couple of years, and why he went to lengths this offseason to make sure he’s as healthy as possible, including blood testing and muscle activation techniques.
“This ball club, this rotation needs our big three guys to stay healthy,” Stottlemyre said.
“So I told Scott that I felt like that was it. The (25) pitches, it’s easy to look at what he did to the last guy, but I know that when I went out and looked at his eyes and I asked him to empty the tank, that he was going to do that.”
And this last happened in the majors two years ago, when Jon Gray had 16 strikeouts in the Rockies’ win over the Padres on Sept. 17, 2016.
Paxton is one of just four pitchers in major-league history to have 16 strikeouts in an outing that ended after seven innings, joining the Yankees’ Michael Pineda, Phillies’ Cliff Lee, Padres’ Jake Peavy and Randy Johnson, when he played for the Diamondbacks.
In other words: Paxton was rolling.
He said his teammates left him alone in the dugout during the game, but afterward they celebrated it.
“I did throw some cutters, sliders at the bottom of the zone, just to keep them guessing, but I think they were pretty much looking straight heater,” Paxton said. “And I was able to put it in good-enough spots and have enough life on it to get them out.”
And that was Paxton’s progression, getting the spin he had and elevating his fastball up in the zone, when most of his usage coming into the game had been down in the zone.
“And they were looking down,” Stottlemyre said. “But the thing he did different tonight was he moved eyes and changed levels all night. It’s almost like having two pitches within a pitch, when you’re down and getting good counts and it’s 97-98 – it’s tough.”
Erik Bedard held the previous record for most strikeouts by a Canadian-born player in a game, when he fanned 15 in a 2007 Orioles win over the Rangers. Former Phillies and Pirates pitcher Fergie Jenkins had three different 14 strikeout-games.
"That's pretty cool," said the 29-year-old Paxton, who was born in Ladner, British Columbia. "It was a lot of fun to be out there pitching tonight and racking up those strikeouts. It was pretty fun."
Paxton's previous career-high was 10 strikeouts, which he'd accomplished twice already this season.
This one was an interesting game to plug into Baseball Reference.
This was the 17th game in major league history when a pitcher had struck out at least 16 batters in a game but earned a no-decision, which includes when Randy Johnson struck out 20 batters with the Diamondbacks in 2001. And it was just the ninth game in major-league history when a pitcher struck out at least 16 batters, earned a no-decision and his team eventually lost.
“They know he’s coming after them with the fastball,” Servais said. “But Paxton has some deception, he’s got a steep angle. He’s able to locate it down early, up, back and forth with it. That’s a good hitting ball club over there.
“To be that dominant at this level is pretty amazing – and pretty much with one pitch. I know he’s disappointed we didn’t get the ‘W’ tonight, but that’s about all you can ask of any pitcher. That certainly was busting right through. He has that kind of stuff, he just hasn’t consistently gone out and done that. That’s what we need from him to ultimately get where we want to go and that’s get to the playoffs.”
This story was originally published May 2, 2018 at 9:23 PM with the headline "Eh, Mariners' James Paxton made history — first Canadian pitcher with 16 strikeouts in a game."