James Paxton threw seven scoreless innings of two-hit ball with nine strikeouts, Mike Zunino, Justin Smoak and Corey Hart all smacked home runs, and the Mariners (3-0) completed their first three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim since 2006 with an 8-2 victory Wednesday night.
In his fifth major league start, Paxton threw 99 pitches and dominated the Angels lineup, including fanning Josh Hamilton three times. Paxton, who went 3-0 with a 1.50 ERA in a late-season cameo last year, allowed two hits and walked two batters.
The Mariners have started a season 3-0 for just the third time and for the first time since 1995.
Robinson Cano collected his first RBI as a Mariner in the third inning, driving in Brad Miller following his double. Miller had an RBI-single in the fifth, scoring Willie Bloomquist, and Stefan Romero doubled to left in the sixth, driving in Justin Smoak for a 3-0 Seattle lead.
Zunino put the game out of reach later in the sixth with a three-run homer. In the ninth, Smoak and Corey Hart homered back-to-back.
The Mariners had 13 hits, five for extra bases, to L.A.’s three and outscored the Angels in the series 26-8, 18 of the runs coming with two outs.
The Mariners are in Oakland Thursday for the first of four against th Athletics. Rookie Roenis Elias will make his major league debut for Seattle against RHP Jesse Chavez, who will be making his first start since June 24, 2012.
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Well, that was a fun series. The next one with Oakland should be interesting though IIRC Oakland is usually pretty average in April then start rolling a month or two later. Now is the time to jump on them.
Paxton looked solid, didn’t get intimitated by Trout, Pujols and Hamilton. And the batting lineup chased Santiago away in only 5 innings. Didn’t like how Noeisi finished the game but I’ll still take it.