Mariners takeaways: James Paxton exits with forearm discomfort in Seattle’s loss to White Sox
James Paxton exited in the second inning of his debut with forearm discomfort, the White Sox jumped on the Mariners’ bullpen, and Seattle’s offense didn’t manage much in a 10-4 loss Tuesday night at T-Mobile Park.
Here are three takeaways from the loss:
1. James Paxton exited in the second inning of his season debut with discomfort in his left forearm
The crowd of 7,980 cheered as Paxton walked out of the bullpen pregame. The Big Maple, who captivated Seattle’s fan base in his six seasons with the Mariners before being traded to the Yankees following the 2018 season, was back.
But, the veteran left-hander’s anticipated season debut after returning the Mariners back in February ended abruptly in the second inning.
Paxton threw 24 pitches before leaving the field with what he and manager Scott Servais later said was left forearm discomfort. Paxton said he could feel the discomfort coming on in the second inning.
“It just got worse and worse and just kind of felt it, and it got to a point where I wasn’t able to throw pitches,” he said.
The pitch that was ultimately Paxton’s last was a 92 mph fastball to Andrew Vaughn. The 32-year-old appeared to grimace as he returned to the mound.
Catcher Luis Torrens jogged over and the Mariners infield corralled around Paxton as he bent over, prompting Servais and athletic trainer Kyle Torgerson to hurry from the dugout.
“Right away you know something’s not right,” Servais said. “He’s disappointed. He felt something in his forearm and at that point the night is over, just shut it down and see what the doctors have to say.”
Paxton appeared frustrated as left the field with Torgerson moments later.
“I feel like for me it’s kind of been one thing after another,” Paxton said. “I work really hard and do everything that I can to be out there, and I’ll continue to do so, and hopefully I can catch a break and stay healthy for a good chuck of time in the future.”
Paxton pitched only five games last summer after undergoing a lumbar discectomy in February of 2020, and was placed on the injured list in August with a left flexor strain, and eventually shut down for the season.
Paxton said he felt at full strength this spring, though the Mariners were still cautious with his ramp up, and made two Cactus League starts before the Mariners broke camp.
“It’s kind of been a process through the recovery of my flexor strain from last year, throwing this offseason, going to bullpens, getting in spring training games, and that process was all going well,” he said. “I was going through the levels kind of building it up and just came into tonight.
“I was pretty confident I was going to be good, but it turned out that it just was a little bit too much for what my flexor was ready for I guess.”
Paxton will undergo an MRI on Wednesday morning to assess his next steps, but said the discomfort he felt during Tuesday’s start differers from the flexor strain last season.
“The flexor strain before there was a lot more pain than there is right now, so I’m feeling pretty optimistic that this could be a pretty quick thing,” he said. “Obviously I don’t know much right now. We’re going to get some imaging done and we’ll know more in the coming days.”
He was off to a quick start in his return to Seattle prior to that pitch. He worked a quick, nine-pitch first inning, getting a weak infield fly from Adam Eaton on the first pitch of the game, and back-to-back swinging strikeouts of Luis Robert and Jose Abreu.
He walked Yoan Moncada to open the second before getting Yermin Mercedes to ground out to first. He left the game following his third pitch to Vaughn.
Paxton was charged with one run when Moncada scored on a three-run homer by Zack Collins later in the inning after reliever Nick Margevicius took over. He allowed the one run on no hits, with the one walk and two strikeouts.
Paxton reunited with the Mariners on a one-year deal in February after spending the past two seasons with the Yankees.
2. Jake Fraley also left the game early with a left hamstring strain
Fraley, who has started every game for the Mariners this season, including four of five in left field, exited following the fifth inning with a left hamstring strain.
Fraley was a bit slow to get up following a fantastic diving catch on a shallow liner from Moncada that ended the top half of the inning.
He was replaced in left by Dylan Moore in the sixth.
Like Paxton, Fraley is expected to undergo an MRI on Wednesday morning.
“Hopefully those two players that came out of the game tonight will be able to bounce back here sooner rather that later,” Servais said. “We’ll just have to wait and see.”
Fraley hit 1-for-10 (.100) with two runs scored, a double, RBI, eight walks — which were tied for the big league lead entering Tuesday — three strikeouts and a stolen base through Seattle’s first five games.
Should he head to the injured list, the Mariners could call up the only true outfielder they have at their alternate training site in Braden Bishop, and also lean on utility options such as Moore, Sam Haggerty and Jose Marmolejos to fill the role in left.
Servais said the club would likely have to make roster moves ahead of Wednesday’s homestand finale.
“We’ll find out what the doctors have to say tomorrow and then we’ll go from there,” he said.
3. The Mariners rallied for one three-run inning against Lucas Giolito, but that was about it
Seattle scored all three of its runs in the third inning to knot the game at 3-3, but that was all the offense managed against Giolito and Chicago’s bullpen.
Torrens broke up a string of five consecutive strikeouts from Giolito with the Mariners’ first hit on a single to left before Fraley reached on a fielder’s choice. Fraley then stole second, and advanced on a J.P. Crawford single.
Mitch Haniger ended the shutout two pitches later, driving in Fraley on a line drive to left, and Ty France then doubled in Crawford.
Kyle Seager struck out swinging the following at-bat, but reached on the wild pitch, which bounced away from White Sox catcher Zack Collins, and Haniger scratched across the tying run.
Giolito ended the threat there with two more strikeouts. The Mariners never led.
Giolito finished 5 1/3 innings, allowing the three runs on four hits with one walk and 10 strikeouts.
Moore doubled to open the ninth, and scored when Mitch Haniger hit a grounder to third two batters later, but the lead was far out of reach by then.
The Mariners ended the game with 15 strikeouts — matching their season-high from a night earlier.
Meanwhile, the White Sox tagged Margevicius with four runs and a loss in relief of Paxton, taking a 5-3 lead they never lost on a two-run homer by Robert in the fifth.
Abreu tacked on another run with a sac fly off Casey Sadler in the seventh.
Keynan Middleton tallied two quick outs in the eighth, but then hit Nick Madrigal with a pitch and walked both Eaton and Robert before Abreu crushed a first-pitch slider to the upper deck in left for his second grand slam of the season. It was the 200th home run of his career.
This story was originally published April 6, 2021 at 10:58 PM.
