Matt Young pulled off a 4-K inning in 1990 at Boston and closer Kazuhiro Sasaki did the same in 2003 at Texas.
Paxton gave up a run in the inning after Ian Desmond reached base on his second strikeout. After a base hit by Carlos Beltran, Adrian Beltre scored Desmond with a single to right field.
The 27-year-old Paxton then gave up another single to Rougned Odor to load the bases before striking out Jonathan Lucroy and Elvis Andrus, the latter on a 98 mph fastball.