Paxton strikes out 16 but A’s beat Mariners

Among his variety of pitches, James Paxton discovered quickly he needed only one. His fastball was so overpowering that even though Oakland Athletics batters knew it was coming, they couldn’t catch up.

That fastball led to the finest performance of Paxton’s career with a major league-high 16 strikeouts on Wednesday night. And yet it ended up coming in a Seattle loss after the Mariners’ bullpen blew a late lead and saw the A’s rally for a 3-2 win.

It left the Mariners clubhouse filled with mixed feelings — thrilled about what Paxton did, and frustrated about blowing a game it should have won.

Paxton departed after seven innings with a 2-0 lead, then watched Jed Lowrie hit a two-run homer off Juan Nicasio in the eighth inning and Mark Canha opened the ninth with a home run against Edwin Diaz (0-1). Diaz had allowed just one earned run in 15 appearances this season.

“Paxton was just gross today. I haven’t faced him in a couple years and just trying to hit that heater was tough,” Canha said. “It was kind of like a sigh of relief in the dugout when he finally got out of there, because he was rolling.”

The bullpen collapse muted Paxton’s accomplishment. He posted the highest strikeout total by a Seattle pitcher since Randy Johnson fanned 19 on August 8, 1997. He got 14 A’s on swinging strikeouts.

“I probably had the best fastball of my career,” Paxton said. “It was jumping.”

The left-handed Paxton was the fourth different pitcher in Mariners history to strike out at least 16 in a game, joining Johnson, Mike Moore and Mark Langston.