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Seattle Mariners

Mariners Pregame: Paxton on a roll, lineups and starters

Seattle Mariners starting pitcher James Paxton throws against the New York Mets in the sixth inning of a baseball game, Sunday, July 30, 2017, in Seattle. (Ted S. Warren / Associated Press)
By Dave Nichols daven@spokesman.com(509) 459-5441

Game 111: Seattle Mariners (55-55) vs. Kansas City Royals (56-51) at 5:15 pm in the second of a four-game series at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

James Paxton enters tonight’s start with a 17-inning scoreless streak, dating back to July 19. Paxton also posted 23 scoreless innings to open the season – the longest season-opening scoreless streak in Seattle history.

According to STATS, Inc., if Paxton tosses three scoreless innings to begin Thursday’s game he’ll be just the third Mariners pitcher with multiple streaks of at least 20 consecutive scoreless innings in a single season, joining Hisashi Iwakuma, who had a pair (23 and 23 2/3) of streaks in 2013 and Freddy Garcia (23 and 20 2/3) who had two in 2001.

Paxton’s current 17-inning scoreless streak is the second-longest active streak in MLB, trailing only the 20 1/3-inning streak of San Diego reliever Brad Hand.

Last Night

Mariners Log: Bullpen falters in loss to Royals

Brandon Moss homered twice, including a two-out solo homer in the eighth inning, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Seattle Mariners 6-4 on Thursday. | Read more »

On the Farm: Mariners minor league affiliate report for Aug. 3

Recaps for the Seattle Mariners top affiliates for Thursday provided by team releases and wire reports. | Read more »

Lineups and starters

Courtesy @MarinersPR
Courtesy @MarinersPR

Starters: LHP James Paxton (11-3, 2.68) vs. RHP Jason Hammel (5-8, 4.75)

Mariners Notes

  • In his last eight games, Guillermo Heredia is 10 for 27 (.370) with four runs, three doubles, a homer, and seven RBIs. He has hits in seven of the eight games and has reached base safely in all eight (.433 OBP, .593 SLG).
  • Seattle had another outfield assist in Thursday’s game, and have now recorded an outfield assist in three straight games and four of team’s last five games (five assists total). The Mariners have recorded 24 outfield assists this season, tied for fourth most in MLB and third-most in the A.L.

This Day in Mariners History

In 1994, Rich Gossage earned the victory at California and became the third pitcher in MLB history to appear in 1,000 career games. Only Hoyt Wilhelm (1,070) and Kent Tekulve (1,050) had appeared in more games.

In 2001, the Mariners improved to 80-30, stretching their club-record to 50 games over .500, with a 6-3 victory at Cleveland.

In 2005, Felix Hernandez made his MLB debut at the age of 19 years, 118 days.