James Paxton allowed a leadoff home run in the fifth inning, the ace’s pitch count approached 80, the Athletics were winning, again, the Astros were rolling, again, and, oh, the Seattle Mariners’ offense was without a hit into the seventh inning.
No, for the Mariners this was not as fun as the last time Paxton pitched against the Toronto Blue Jays, when he tossed the organization’s sixth career no-hitter.
This is one of those that seemed every bit as bad as it looked.
Another Blue Jays pitcher to shut down the Mariners’ offense, only this time it was 35-year-old right hander Marco Estrada instead of rookie lefty Ryan Borucki or signed-30-minutes-before-the-game Mike Hauschild.