Mariners’ Paxton finishes career-best season on a high note, but can he take leap to elite?
James Paxton struck out Jurickson Profar swinging to lead off the game. And why not? Just get that strikeout out of the way quickly.
That was Paxton’s 200th strikeout of the season and his first of nine in the final start of the season for the Seattle Mariners’ left-handed ace. He exited after allowing one run in six innings against the Texas Rangers to get his season total to 160 1/3 innings pitched – another goal of his.
It’s a really good season for Paxton, certainly filled with big strikeout games (remember when he fanned 16 against the Angels?) and even his first career no-hitter.
But great? Elite? He’d admit 2018 wasn’t there, not to the level he and the Mariners were expecting based on how much work he put in this offseason and how well things went for him the first three months of the season.
“It was OK,” Paxton said. “I’m not pleased with some of it. Obviously I wanted to be out there the whole time. I think after I got hurt it took me a while to get back going again. I never really got my feet underneath me again and going really solid.
“But I’m looking forward to next year and staying healthy the whole time so I can get that consistency and stay at the top of my game longer.”
Flaring injuries like back spasms near the All-Star break, a forearm contusion thanks to a smoked comebacker off his throwing arm and then, as if his injury history wasn’t crazy enough, getting pneumonia certainly impacted that.
All in all, Paxton still ends his season with a career-high 208 strikeouts, career-high 160 1/3 innings pitched in a career-high 28 starts, and a 3.76 ERA after allowing one run in six innings in a 4-1 Mariners win over the Rangers on Saturday at Safeco Field in their second-to-last game of the season.
“I think the elite step, the only thing that’s getting in the way there is making all the starts,” Servais said. “You’re not going to have your A-game every time out there, but his A-minus or B-game is still plenty to get through most lineups and keep you right in ball games. But overall, a really good year for him.
“An amazing year. I know the injuries took away from what the overall numbers could have been, but he continues to improve and get better.”
The Mariners (88-73) wrap 2018 up in a 12:10 p.m. finale against the Rangers Sunday at Safeco Field.
But a three-run lead? Perfect conditions for closer Edwin Diaz.
He got his first save opportunity since Sept. 17 and took advantage, striking out Nomar Mazara, Ryan Rua and Willie Calhoun and stranded the bases loaded on his way to his 57th save of the season.
Diaz, who was hyping up Sounders soccer fans at CenturyLink Field earlier in the day, tied Bobby Thigpen (1990) for second-most saves in a single-season in MLB history, even if he won’t be able to reach Francisco Rodriguez’s 2008 record of 62 saves.
That game-ending strikeout of Calhoun with the bases loaded was also strikeout No. 300 for Diaz’s career.
“Incredible season,” Diaz said. “I was thinking a 40-save season and I got 50 saves and glory and thanks to God for being healthy all year. And I was just trying to do whatever I can do to help the team win.”
The Mariners caught a break in the fifth inning.
Daniel Vogelbach singled and two batters later Dee Gordon grounded back to Rangers pitcher Adrian Sampson in what looked like a potential inning-ending double play ball.
Instead, Sampson threw it into center field for an error and Vogelbach barreled into third base.
Mitch Haniger followed with a line-drive rocket toward the wall in left field and Carlos Tocci extended his arm on the run, leaped and caught the ball while crashing hard into the wall. Vogelbach scored from third for a sacrifice fly and Tocci was down on the warning track in pain. He stayed in the game.
But the Mariners had tied it, 1-1.
They busted through in the seventh when Kyle Seager led off with a rare opposite-field double before Gordon scored him on an RBI triple. Both of them have fractured toes, but they made that work for a 2-1 Mariners lead. It was 4-1 after RBI singles later in the frame from Jean Segura and Robinson Cano.
Let’s get to it. Some takeaways:
57 saves
Edwin Diaz hadn’t pitched in a save situation since Sept. 17, and this was his first shot since then to tie Bobby Thigpen for the second-most saves in a season in MLB history.
He struck out the first two batters he faced, an error put the bases loaded but he escaped from there to earn his major-league leading 57th save of the season.
He won’t get to Francisco Rodriguez’s 62 saves set in 2008, not with one game remaining in the Mariners season. But this is nine more saves than the previous Mariners record for a season, held by Fernando Rodney.
“That’ the greatest job in the world isn’t it?” Servais said. “Just come in and get three outs and the crowd is on their feet, everybody loves it and you throw 100 mph. it doesn’t get any better than that. You mix in a soccer game here or there (Diaz was at the Sounders match earlier in the day). Eddie has a great personality and he’s one of the first guys here every day. He likes hanging out with the guys and being a good teammate. But when the bell rings he knows the ninth inning is his and he’s ready to get it on.”
Fractured friends
Dee Gordon fractured his toe back in May, then Kyle Seager had a similar injury in June and neither have been the same since.
But Seager hit an opposite-field double to lead off the seventh, which was his 36th double of the season. That’s one away from tying his career high of 37 doubles in 2015. He’s also hit 22 home runs.
Of course, that doesn’t excuse what was a career-low .220 batting average for Seager entering Saturday.
Gordon’s triple was his eighth of the season, flashing back to what made him so electric in the first two months of the season for them, when he was batting .302 entering June. It was .353 before the toe.
Play of the game
Dee Gordon’s triple in the seventh to score Kyle Seager. It gave the Mariners a 2-1 lead after they trailed 1-0 after the first inning.
Top batter
Jean Segura was benched a night earlier for not giving enough effort when he scored from second base in the Mariners’ 12-6 win. Yes, he still scored. Servais just didn’t like the hustle.
But Servais inserted the All-Star shortstop back into the lineup on Saturday and he went 3-for-4 with an RBI to push hi season batting average to .304.
Segura’s 178 hits this season are third-most in a season by a Mariners shortstop, with Alex Rodriguez getting 215 hits in 1996 and 213 in 1998.
Top pitcher
James Paxton got his 200th strikeout of the season with the first batter of the game, meaning he joins Randy Johnson, Mark Langston and Floyd Bannister as the only other left-handed pitchers in Mariners history with at least 200 strikeouts in a season.
Paxton allowed a run in the first inning on Adrian Beltre’s double, but he struck out three batters in the frame and finished with nine strikeouts total in six innings, lowering his season ERA to 3.76.
The Mariners also set a single-season club record for strikeouts, bringing the team’s total to 1,319 for the season with 13 overall in the game. That surpassed the previous strikeouts record of 1,318 set in 2016.
Quotable
The Mariners won their 88th game, which is the most for them since the 2007 season when they went 88-74.
“If you start off the season a little slow and you end hot as heck it just has a different feel about it,” Servais said. “I think when the finality of tomorrow’s game sets in there will be some guys who get in their car and drive home and shake their head a little bit.
“It’s a little bit of disappointment, but at the end of the day 88-89 wins whatever we end up with is an accomplishment. It’s one of the better years in Mariners history. Unfortunately we didn’t get over the hump, and that’s getting back to the postseason.”
This story was originally published September 29, 2018 at 8:49 PM.