Paxton Shuts Out Astros

The Mariner’s started their opening game of the season at Safeco Field on Monday beating the Houston Astros 6-0. This now makes their record 2-6 on the season.

James Paxton had another above average game pitching for the Mariners going seven innings. He gave up only four hits and struck out eight batters while walking two. After Sunday’s game where the Angels scored seven runs in the ninth inning to win 10-9 Paxton showed that he may be the ace of the starting rotation; this is a kind of game that an ace does his job. When a team is struggling the Mariners have starting off the season the ace comes in and shuts down the other ball club. Most likely we won’t know this until May. Of course all depends on how Felix pitches as well. In fact Felix has done a good job in his two first outings but being the ace may not be in the cards for him any longer. Of course it would be nice if the Mariners could have two aces on the ball club.

Iwakuma pitched a good game on Sunday before the bullpen didn’t do the job in the ninth inning. Actually the bullpen had done a good job in the previous six games. The reason the Mariners had only won one game before Sunday because the offense wasn’t doing well at all. These last two games show us that the offense may be in gear once again. Nelson Cruz got a couple hits on Monday to help the Mariners score their runs. Also Kyle Seager had a single and a sacrifice fly to help score a run to.

The Mariners lost shortstop Jean Segura early in the game because of a hamstring pull. He left the game after being out on a throw to first base. According to manager Servais he hurt the hamstring a little earlier. Right now Segura is day to day. A lot will depend how he looks when he comes to the park on Tuesday. Servais said on post-game remarks that he will talk with Dipoto about adding another infielder and go with one less pitcher. I see this as a good idea. The Mariners can always bring up another pitcher if the bullpen gets overused. I wouldn’t be surprised if this will happen over the course of the season. The work of the starting rotation right now looks like they are going six plus innings so that is a good sign. As long as they can continue on that path then the bullpen should be fine.

It was really nice to see the Mariners play at home in the opener in the manner we were expecting at the beginning of last week.  The Astros haven’t done that much in hitting besides home runs they are struggling right now. The Angels who swept the Mariners in Anaheim are in first place. They have a good offense however will their pitching be able to keep up. This should be an interesting season and the Mariners should be in the hunt despite the awful first week of the season. We will know a lot more when their nine-game home stand ends next Wednesday. Go M’s.