Mariners notebook: James Paxton continues to impress

OAKLAND, Calif. – Even with Felix Hernandez on the hill Wednesday, there was still a little bit of a buzz about the performance James Paxton turned in Tuesday night.

Perhaps what was most impressive was that Paxton dominated using his fastball almost exclusively. According to the chart on BrooksBaseball.net, he threw 71 fastballs, 19 curves, one changeup and one cutter. Jesus Sucre, who caught Paxton, estimated that of the fastballs he threw, about 20 were two-seamers. Interestingly enough, he only had two swing and misses. The Athletics were putting the ball in play but they weren’t squaring it up.

“He was pounding the zone everywhere,” Sucre said. “The fastball felt real good. They were swinging so late, the ball was moving a little bit, I don’t think they could get it.”

Paxton threw a pitch that popped the glove at 100.3 mph. Perhaps the most impressive pitch, however, was a 99-mph fastball in on the hands of Josh Donaldson. The mention of that pitch brought a smile to Sucre’s face.

“He’s the guy we are trying to get,” Sucre said. “He’s the guy who is real aggressive, that’s why we went aggressive with him. We threw a lot of fastball in. The last time at home we pitched him middle away and he got a couple of hits. We found out, especially with Paxton, he throws so hard, it is not easy to get in there.”

With Paxton coming off a professional career-high 118 pitches in his previous outing, McClendon was quick to pull him when he saw Paxton start to lose the edge on his pitches in the eighth inning. He had done his job and the bullpen managed to close it out. Barely. Paxton left everyone wanting more, and we will see that in four days in Texas.

“If he does that every time, keeps the ball down, hard two-seamer, that’s what he has got to do. Nice job,” Sucre said.

Lineup!

Austin Jackson, 8
Chris Denorfia, 7
Robinson Cano, 4
Kendrys Morales, 3
Kyle Seager, 5
Corey Hart, DH
Mike Zunino, 2
Stefen Romero, 9
Chris Taylor, 6

Felix Hernandez

McClendon is going with the righies against lefty Jon Lester. It was a little bit of a surprise to see Dustin Ackley out of the lineup. McClendon had said in late August that there would most likely be no more off days in the stretch run. It does make sense, however, to try and get Denorfia going after missing some time with neck stiffness. He is a right-handed bat that they need down the stretch.

Notes

• McClendon watched Chris Young throw his bullpen session Wednesday morning. He told the media it was a good bullpen session but that he had yet to determine if Young will make his scheduled Saturday start in Texas. McClendon expects to discuss this with general manager Jack Zduriencik later Wednesday and should have a final answer by Thursday. Taijuan Walker threw a bullpen after Young.

• Robinson Cano picked up his 31st double in the first inning of Wednesday’s game against Oakland. Cano joins Albert Pujols as the only players in MLB history to have 30-plus doubles in each of his first 10 seasons.

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