Tuesday brought us a tale of two pitching performances. A start by the Mariners’ James Paxton was very, very good, while that of the Orioles’ Dylan Bundy was little short of horrific.
Let’s begin on a positive note, with Paxton. The 6-4, 235-pound lefty nicknamed “Big Maple” threw a no-hitter for Seattle that had extra significance because of where he did it.
That would be Toronto, with the Blue Jays as his overmatched victims, making Paxton the first Canadian-born MLB player to toss a no-hitter on his home soil. He became just the second Canadian in MLB history to accomplish the feat, following Dick Fowler of the 1945 Philadelphia A’s, who shut down the St. Louis Browns (who would go on to become the Orioles nine years later).
The 29-year-old Paxton, a native of British Columbia, needed just 99 pitches over his nine innings in the Mariners’ 5-0 win. He tossed 64 strikes to 35 balls, with seven strikeouts and three walks, while consistently throwing in the upper 90s and occasionally reaching triple digits.
After the final out, a grounder to third baseman Kyle Seager that Paxton watched nervously until the throw across the diamond nestled safely into the mitt of first baseman Ryon Healy, the crowd of over 20,000 at Toronto’s Rogers Centre gave the Seattle pitcher a standing ovation. Paxton was actually drafted by the Blue Jays in the first round of the 2009 draft, but he did not sign with the team and was subsequently selected by the Mariners in the fourth round of the 2010 draft.
As he left the field, Paxton showed off the tattoo on his right arm, which was an image of that well-known symbol of Canada: a maple leaf.
By contrast, when Bundy left the field Tuesday, it was to a smattering of boos from those in attendance at Baltimore’s Camden Yards. It was also still the first inning, rather than after a complete-game performance, but the Orioles could hardly have yanked him soon enough.
Bundy faced just seven Royals batters, but he somehow managed to give up four home runs — without recording a single out. That put him alone in the record books, as no pitcher in modern MLB history (since 1900) had ever before managed quite that combination of futility.
Bundy also became the first Orioles pitcher since 1954, the franchise’s first season in Baltimore, to give up seven runs without recording an out (per the Baltimore Sun). After starting the game by allowing an infield single to Kansas City’s John Jay, the 25-year-old righty gave up consecutive home runs to Jorge Soler, Mike Moustakas and Salvador Perez.
Bundy then walked two straight batters before Alex Gordon connected for a three-run shot, at which point the beleaguered pitcher was lifted for reliever Mike Wright Jr. Before the first inning ended, though, Wright gave up three more runs of his own, as the Royals went on to a 15-7 romp.
“Physically, I’m fine,” Bundy said after the game. “I’m just not executing the pitches I need to right now.”
The abysmal start marked the latest low point in a recent swoon for Bundy, who gave up just one home run over his first five outings this season, while notching a 1.42 ERA, but who has now allowed nine homers over his past three starts, while accounting for 19 earned runs in a total of nine innings. For Paxton’s part, he presaged his Tuesday masterpiece with a dominant performance in his previous start, when he struck out 16 A’s in seven innings, while allowing just one walk and no earned runs.
The no-hitter marked the sixth in Mariners history, following exceptional efforts by Randy Johnson (1990), Chris Bosio (1993), Felix Hernandez (a perfect game in 2012) and Hisashi Iwakuma (2015). Six Seattle pitchers threw a combined no-hitter in 2012.
Paxton also posted the third no-hitter by an MLB pitcher this season, and the second solo job, after the A’s Sean Manaea managed one against the Red Sox in April. On Friday, four Dodgers pitchers combined to no-hit the Padres, and they did so in a game played in Mexico, meaning that, with Manaea’s feat occurring in Oakland, all three no-hitters took place in different countries.
“Of all places, to do it in Toronto, it’s pretty amazing,” Paxton said Tuesday. “The fans were great. They were giving me some trouble in the seventh inning, but once I got past that, they started kind of cheering me on. It was cool.”
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