Mariners' Paxton stymies Rangers
SEATTLE -- The Texas Rangers couldn't muster a hit against James Paxton for 5 1/3 innings on Saturday at Safeco Field. Once they did, Paxton return to his dominant ways in the Seattle Mariners' 5-0 win over the Rangers.
Joey Gallo ripped a shift-beating double to break up Paxton's no-no, but Paxton got Delino DeShields swinging for the sixth of his nine strikeouts over eight shutout innings. Gallo's hit would be just one of two for the Rangers.
Paxton (2-0) was as dominant on his 114th and final pitch of the game as he was on his first. To cap his evening, Paxton got Gallo swinging on an 82-mph knuckle curve to strike out the side in the eighth inning.
Paxton has started the season with 21 consecutive scoreless innings and three starts of six-plus innings without allowing a run. The former set a Mariners franchise record; the latter puts him in a three-man club with Woody Williams and Jordan Zimmermann as the only starters to do so in the divisional era (since 1969).
Andrew Cashner (0-1) matched Paxton for much of the game. In his first start of the season, returning from a stint on the 10-day disabled list with elbow tendinitis, Cashner pitched into and out of trouble but couldn't escape his final jam.
Mitch Haniger singled with one out in the sixth to begin a run of five straight and six of seven Seattle batters to reach base, capped by a Taylor Motter three-run homer that careened off the facade of the left-field bleachers and into the Texas bullpen to open up the decisive 5-0 lead.
Paxton mowed through the Rangers' order, with the lanky left-hander retiring 15 in a row after walking Carlos Gomez to lead off the game -- and subsequently erasing him on a double-play ball.
Cashner was firing in the mid-90s but put runners on in every inning but the first. Yet he was able to avoid any damage -- until the sixth -- with a pair of double plays and some timely strikeouts. He finished with two, plus three walks over 5 1/3 innings.
The Mariners put runners in scoring position with less than two outs multiple times in the early innings but couldn't capitalize.
Nelson Cruz and Mike Zunino laced a pair of doubles down third-base line in the second and third innings but were both stranded, continuing Seattle's problems hitting with men in scoring position. Danny Valencia tripled with one out in the fifth but the bottom third of the order couldn't drive him home.
The Mariners entered Saturday's game with the second-worst average with runners in scoring position in baseball at .155 (15-for-97).
NOTES: The Rangers activated RHP Andrew Cashner from the 10-day disabled list before the game. Texas optioned RHP Nick Martinez to make room for Cashner. ... The Rangers activated RHP Tanner Scheppers and outrighted him to Triple-A Round Rock. ... Texas became the last team in baseball to use a fifth starter with Cashner getting the nod.