SEATTLE — This is what the Seattle Mariners needed because it’s what they’d been missing. And what they’d been missing was a starter that went a) deep into a game and b) went deep into a game without giving up many runs.
James Paxton delivered that start on Friday, and the Mariners beat the Oakland A’s 7-2 to snap an eight-game losing streak at home.
Paxton went seven innings, struck out nine and allowed only two runs and two hits. And Nelson Cruz drove in five runs, including a three-run homer in the eighth inning — Cruz’s 300th career home run. He received a curtain call for that.
The Mariners (42-46) won for just the third time in their last 12 games (and snapped an eight-game home losing streak), and as a result they had started slipping closer to the last-place A’s in the standings. But Paxton put a stop to that slide, and he started in the first inning.
Ordinarily, a first inning without any hits or runs is not that significant. But the Mariners had allowed runs in the first inning in each of their last four games, including three runs in the first inning on Thursday.
Paxton struck out two in the first inning, and he was pretty much that good for the rest of the night. Except for one hiccup.
In the third inning, Paxton gave up a single to Matt Joyce. He then got a deep fly ball, which right fielder Mitch Haniger tracked and caught near the wall. Haniger fired to first. But first baseman Danny Valencia lost the throw, and the ball skipped to the backstop. Joyce moved to second.
Paxton walked Rajai Davis and gave up two runs on a two-out double to Marcus Semien.
But that was the extent of Paxton’s damage on a night he didn’t have a large margin for error while still in the game.
General manager Jerry Dipoto spoke to reporters before Friday’s game, and he was clear about what he viewed as the Mariners’ biggest shortcoming. That was starting pitching.
Either because of injuries or inconsistency or both, the Mariners haven’t been able to rely on their starters this season. What Dipoto spoke about — pitchers needing to go longer in games, saving the bullpen — is exactly what Paxton did.
The Mariners scored a run in the first inning when Nelson Cruz, an All-Star, followed singles by Danny Valencia and Robinson Cano with a single of his own.
The Mariners tacked on two more runs in the third inning. Cruz once again singled to drive in one of the runs. And Robinson Cano called on some instinctive baserunning.
Cano was on third with one out when Kyle Seager hit a fly ball to medium depth in center field. Cano tagged. Mariners’ third-base coach Manny Acta held up both hands to hold Cano.
But Oakland center fielder Rajai Davis didn’t come up throwing, and so Cano just kept running and scored.
Cruz blew open the game in the eighth inning with a three-run home run, and he tipped his cap the crowd standing and cheering for his career accomplishment.
