SEATTLE — Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon likes to simplify things as best he can, and when it comes to pitching, he prefers the just-throw-strikes formula over anything to do with mechanics.
And when you’re throwing strikes in the upper 90s on the radar gun, that certainly helps.
“I tell my guys all the time: ‘Hitting a baseball is hard; don’t make it any easier on them,’” McClendon said late Sunday afternoon.
Starter James Paxton heeded that advice while extending his scoreless innings streak to 20 on Sunday, leading the Mariners to a 5-0 win over the Boston Red Sox. Paxton attacked Boston’s hitters with a bevy of fastballs, hitting the radar at 97 miles per hour, and only allowed three baserunners to get past first base.
“I was feeling good,” Paxton said. “As the game goes on, I just kept feeling better and better.”
Paxton pitched eight more scoreless innings, allowing just five hits and two walks while striking out two, to win his second consecutive start. His streak of 20 innings without allowing a run ties former Mariner Erik Bedard for the longest in franchise history by a left-handed starter.
Mariners shortstop Brad Miller hit his third home run in a span of two games with a solo shot in the bottom of the fifth. That home run, Miller’s fifth of the season after he hit two on Saturday night, gave Seattle a 3-0 lead. Third baseman Kyle Seager added a two-run shot in the eighth.
Seattle (17-20) salvaged a split in the four-game series.
With star slugger David Ortiz taking his fourth day off of the season, the Red Sox could not find much offense. Boston (18-20) managed just five hits — only two of which made it to the outfield — and got only one runner in scoring position over the first six innings.
“We had a couple of opportunities,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said, “but the two-out base hit wasn’t there.”
Paxton (2-2) allowed just three hits over the first six innings, with two of them never getting out of the infield. Boston had just one runner in scoring position during that span before finally threatening in the seventh.
Another infield hit, a two-out grounder to first that saw shortstop Xander Bogaerts beat Mariners first baseman Logan Morrison to the bag, was followed by left fielder Brock Holt’s double to put runners on second and third. Seattle pitching coach Rick Waits came to the mound to talk to Paxton, who then got out of the jam by inducing a Blake Swihart grounder on his next pitch.
Paxton, who has not allowed a run since the second inning of a May 2 start at Los Angeles, returned for the eighth and barely escaped a leadoff homer when Red Sox center fielder Mookie Betts’ towering fly ball drifted just outside the left-field foul pole. The play was close enough that Farrell challenged for a replay, which confirmed the foul ball before Betts lined out to shortstop. Paxton ended up pitching a 1-2-3 eighth before leaving the game after 105 pitches.
Reliever Carson Smith pitched a scoreless ninth in a non-save situation.
Boston starter Steven Wright, who was called up from Triple-A to make his third start of the season, filled in admirably for injured right-hander Justin Masterson. Wright (1-1) allowed five hits and three runs, two of them earned, over five innings.
“Five innings, three runs keeps the game in check, and it didn’t get away from him,” Farrell said of Wright’s third start this season.
A passed ball and a two-out, RBI single from catcher Mike Zunino gave the Mariners a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. Miller’s one-out solo homer put Seattle ahead 3-0 in the fifth, then Seager welcomed reliever Craig Breslow to the game by hitting the lefty’s first pitch into the right-field seats for a two-run homer in the eighth.
Holt had two of Boston’s five hits.
The Red Sox had to settle for a series split and have won just one of their five series played this month.
NOTES: Wright was called up from Triple-A Pawtucket before the game. The Red Sox had a roster spot available after placing RHP Justin Masterson on the 15-day disabled list last week. … Boston put out its probable starters for the upcoming series against Texas, with LHP Wade Miley getting the Tuesday start after the team takes Monday off. RHPs Joe Kelly (Wednesday) and Clay Buchholz (Thursday) fill out the series probables. … The Red Sox are 10-15 against the American League East but have an 8-5 record against everyone else.