The Seattle Mariners (6-4) finished a mammoth road trip with a 4-2 win over the Kansas City Royals (3-7) Wednesday thanks to some timely hitting by Kyle Seager and solid pitching from James Paxton. The win over the Royals completed a 10-day, 5,200-mile 8-game odyssey.
The Mariners pitching and hitting has been a constant for the Mariners and Paxton’s razor-sharp focus was not different when he faces the Royals Wednesday afternoon in the rubber match between the two teams.
While he was unable to record the win, Paxton was solid in matching a career-best 10 strikeouts for the fourth time in his career. Paxton pitched six solids innings allowing two runs on six hits and walking just one batter, Paxton threw 102 pitches 65 of which were strikes.
“The ball was just exploding and that’s what we’re used to seeing from Pax,” Seattle Manager Scott Servais said after the game. “It’s taken him a while sometimes, the first or second inning to feel his way through it. But it really started coming together here, especially today in the third or fourth.”
A for Seager the hard-hitting third baseman hit the go-ahead, two-run home run in the eighth inning off Justin Grimm. It was his 11th career go-ahead HR in the eighth inning or later including four last season.
Since 2013, only Chris Davis (15) and Justin Upton (14) have more go-ahead HR in the eighth inning or later. Coming into the game Seger was struggling with a .171 average but went 2-for-3 with three RBIs, including a bases-loaded sacrifice fly off Danny Duffy in the first that got knocked down by the 20-mph winds.
“He got in on me just enough on that first one,” said Seager after the game. “I still thought it was going to go a little further than it did. I don’t even know if it got to the warning track. I was starting to doubt myself pretty good there. But I was happy to get the run in. On the homer, when I hit it I thought I got it, but when he started going back there I was pretty worried he was going to catch it.”
Mariner closer Edwin Diaz recorded his fourth save in five appearances this season. The Mariners will be back in action Friday, April 13th 7:10 PST when they take on the Oakland Athletics
