TORONTO — James Paxton of the Seattle Mariners pitched the sixth no-hitter in team history Tuesday night against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Paxton, who is from Ladner, British Columbia, said he was glad to throw it in Toronto.
"The fans were great," he told Jen Mueller in the televised post-game interview. "They were giving me some trouble in the seventh inning, but once I got past that ..."
Paxton was interrupted by a Gatorade dump from his teammates.
"Once I got past that, they started kind of cheering me on. It was cool.
"What a defense tonight."
Through the eighth inning, Paxton walked three and struck out five while throwing 83 pitches in Toronto.
Paxton got some help from third baseman Kyle Seager for the final out of the seventh. Seager made a full-length diving stop on speedy Kevin Pillar's grounder down the line, then slung an off-balance throw that first baseman Ryon Healy snagged on one hop.
Paxton is a 29-year-old lefty. He struck out a career-high 16 in his previous start, last week against Oakland.
Seattle beat the Blue Jays 5-0.
The first Mariners no-hitter was June 2, 1990, when Randy Johnson beat the Detroit Tigers in the Kingdome. The second came April 22, 1993, when Chris Bosio -- helped by an Omar Visquel bare-handed grab and throw for the final out -- beat the Boston Red Sox.
The third no-hitter was June 8, 2012 when six Mariners pitchers -- Kevin Millwood, Charlie Furbush, Stephen Pryor, Lucas Luetge, Brandon League and Tom Wilhelmsen – combined against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Felix Hernandez threw the first perfect game in franchise history later that season, on August 15, 2012.
Hisashi Iwakuma threw the last no-hitter before Paxton on August 12, 2015.
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Associated Press
