AILING DEVILS HEALING
James ‘Big Maple’ Paxton of the Seattle Mariners became the first Canadian to pitch a no-hitter in his home country, shutting down the Toronto Blue Jays 5-0 Tuesday night.
Paxton joined Dick Fowler of the 1945 Philadelphia Athletics as the only Canadians to throw a no-hitter. Fowler threw his no-hitter on Sept. 9 that year, against the St. Louis Browns.
Paxton, who’s from British Columbia, pointed to a tattoo on his right forearm of a maple leaf — a national symbol — as he celebrated to a standing ovation at Rogers Centre.
“Of all places, to do it in Toronto, it’s pretty amazing,” he said. “The fans were great. They were giving me some trouble in the seventh inning, but once I got past that, they started kind of cheering me on. It was cool,” he said.
The 29-year-old lefty threw 99 pitches in tossing the third no-hitter in the majors this year — all three have come in different countries.
Oakland’s Sean Manaea pitched one against Boston on April 21 in California. Four Los Angeles Dodgers combined to nohit San Diego in Mexico last Friday.
Coming off a career-high 16 strikeouts in his last start, Paxton (2-1) was electric once again, hitting 100 mph with his fastball while retiring Josh Donaldson on a grounder to end it.
Paxton’s season has taken off since a bald eagle mistakenly landed on his shoulder before a start last month. He’s 2-0 with a 2.51 ERA over seven starts since the bird stuck its talons into his back before the Minnesota Twins’ home opener.
l Dylan Bundy set a dubious modernday record, yielding four homers and leaving without getting an out, part of a 10-run first inning that propelled visiting Kansas City past hapless Baltimore 15-7. Bundy (1-5) was lifted after allowing five hits and two walks to the only seven batters he faced.
It marked the first time in the current era (1908-present) that a pitcher gave up four home runs during an outing in which he did not retire a batter, according to baseball-reference.com.
l Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna was arrested and charged with assault of a woman, multiple outlets confirmed with Toronto police. Osuna has been released by authorities and is scheduled for a court appearance on June 18, according to reports.
The Devils say forwards Taylor Hall and Patrick Maroon and goaltender Cory Schneider have had surgeries since the playoffs ended for them last month.