SEATTLE — The Maple Grove brought along a little maple Monday in support of the Big Maple. Hang on, explanation to follow.
Here’s the key point: James Paxton helped the Mariners erase the sour taste of a lost weekend by pitching seven dominant innings in a 4-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox at Safeco Field.
Paxton (10-3) permitted just four hits while matching a career high with 10 strikeouts. He retired the first 13 batters and didn’t walk a batter in a 103-pitch performance.
“My arm just felt really good today,” he said. “I had a big fastball, and it was just coming out easy today. I wasn’t going out there and thinking about throwing 98 or 99 (mph). That’s just what was coming out today.”
It was impressive.
“The stuff was electric tonight,” manager Scott Servais said. “That’s the best word to throw out there, and all of it worked. He struck out 10 guys tonight against a team that just doesn’t strike out. They are a contact team.”
Offensively, the Mariners did enough.
Kyle Seager ignited a three-run second inning against Boston starter Eduardo Rodriguez (4-3). The Mariners scored another run in the fourth before their attack hit the snooze button.
Paxton took it from there through the seventh before Nick Vincent and David Phelps completed the shutout, which pulled the Mariners back to 50-51 and kept them 2 1/2 games behind Kansas City in the wild-card race.
Paxton also matched a franchise record by winning for the fifth time in July. It marks the 20th time that a Mariners pitcher has won five games in a single month.
The last to do it was Jason Vargas in July 2012. Jamie Moyer did it four times, while Freddy Garcia did it three times, and Jim Beattie and Mark Langston each did it twice.
Eight other pitchers did it once, including Felix Hernandez in September 2009.
Point to note: Paxton will get one more start in July: Sunday against the New York Mets in the conclusion to a 10-game homestand, which began with three losses in four games to the New York Yankees.
Now about The Maple Grove. That’s what Paxton’s personal cheering section calls itself, and its members hold up “eh” signs whenever Paxton (a Canadian native known as the Big Maple) gets two strikes on a hitter.
Think of it as a spin-off on the K signs waved by Felix Hernandez’s fans in the King’s Court. But The Maple Grove went even further Monday by, somehow, smuggling a small maple tree into the ballpark.
“The past two starts before this one is when they started (with the signs),” Paxton said. “It was definitely bigger tonight, and they had the maple tree out there, which was really cool. I’ve got to meet them.”
Boston didn’t have a baserunner until Jackie Bradley Jr. blooped a one-out single into center field in the fifth inning. Paxton struck out the next two hitters.
The Red Sox put two runners on base with one out in the sixth inning on an error and a ground single but, again, Paxton struck out the next two hitters.
Boston kept coming, though, and opened the seventh inning with singles by Hanley Ramirez and Bradley, which put runners at first and third with no outs.
Paxton struck out Chris Young — his 10th strikeout — before getting Deven Marrero to ground into a double play. Then Vincent for a one-two-three eighth, and Phelps for a one-two-three ninth.
Rodríguez wasn’t as sharp as on May 26, when he pitched six innings in a 3-0 victory over the Mariners at Fenway Park. This time, he gave up four runs in 5 1/3 innings.
Seager opened the scoring by leading off the second inning with a homer over the center-field wall.
“That doesn’t happen too often,” he said. “So that was nice. I’m just glad it went out. I’ve hit a couple of balls there that haven’t gone out.”
Ben Gamel’s one-out triple past first base led to another run when he scored on Guillermo Heredia’s fielder’s-choice grounder to first. Ramirez threw high to the plate, and Gamel slid under the tag.
Rodriguez struck out Mike Zunino, but Jean Segura snapped an 0-for-15 skid with an RBI double into the right-center gap.
The Mariners extended their lead to 4-0 in the fourth inning on Danny Valencia’s two-out RBI double.
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