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Twister: Paxton spins big-time curveball, K’s 9
- Updated: July 23, 2016
TORONTO — James Paxton spent time between his starts with pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre tweaking the delivery of his curveball. The adjustments paid off Friday, as the left-hander kept the Blue Jays’ potent offense in check over seven innings in Seattle’s 2-1 win.
Paxton struck out nine while allowing one earned run on three hits to avoid a third straight loss.
“I was staying on top of the ball,” Paxton explained. “Before these starts, I was creeping down a little bit, getting too sidearm, getting too much on the side of the ball, [which] wasn’t allowing me to get on top of the curveball. Bringing my arm up a little more has allowed me to get on top of that curveball.”
The key moment in Paxton’s start came in the sixth inning with Seattle hanging on to a 2-1 lead. With one on and two out, Josh Donaldson doubled, bringing Edwin Encarnacion to the plate.
Paxton (3-4, 4.18 ERA) managed to get the Blue Jays’ All-Star swinging on a 2-2 pitch to end the threat.
“We didn’t want to give him anything too good to hit,” Paxton said of the at-bat. “We were trying to throw my best pitches right there, wanted to get the fastball up in the zone. He was fouling those off. I was just trying to get it up over the barrel, and then the curveball down kind of set him up for that after the fastballs up. He just …
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