Paxton shines again, offense erupts late as M's pound Twins

9/23 at MIN by TOM HAYDEN

81-72, Eliminated from AL WEST, 2.0 GB in AL WILD CARD ----

The Seattle Mariners have now won a couple of very important games in a row, coming off of a WALK-OFF defeat of the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday afternoon and into this one, a BIG 10-1 win over the Minnesota Twins of the American League Central Division. The Mariners were able to put up a 6-run inning late in the ball game, to help pad a lead that had already been there previously. Offense backed a fine performance from LHP James Paxton, who has been having a great month with Seattle. Paxton continues to lower his ERA and improve that individual W-L record. With this important win, the Mariners are now at a W-L record of 81-72 on the season. Unfortunately, the Mariners will have no chance of winning the American League Western Division this year, as the Texas Rangers clinched on Friday night. The Mariners chances of that second Wild Card spot are still solid however, as they are now just 2.0 games in back of the Baltimore Orioles with 9 games left to play in 2016. 

Offensively on Friday night in the beautiful city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, the M's were able to put up an impressive 10 runs on 13 hits off of Twins' pitching. DH Nelson Cruz (.282 AVG) was my pick for offensive Player of the Game as he went 2-for-5 at the dish with his 26th double of the season, and a no-doubt 2-run blast in the eighth inning of the ball game. Cruz was robbed of a homer to dead-centerfield previously in the ballgame. His bat is clearly hot right now, as he is batting a .304 AVG in his last 15 games with 17 hits, 4 of which home runs, with 13 RBI! On Friday night at Target Field, he earned himself his 96th RBI on the season with the 4 RBI night from the double and home run. The homer was Nelson's 38th of the year! Also contributing to offense in this one was 2B Robinson Canó (.296 AVG) who mashed the baseball going 4-for-5 at the plate with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored for Seattle in this one. Canó connected for 4 singles in the ball game off of Twins' pitching. The 2-RBI night now gives him 92 on the season to date. 3B Kyle Seager (.283 AVG) went 1-for-3 on the night with 2 runs scored and an RBI for the M's in this one. Seager connected for his 26th double of the season, and he now has a total of 96 RBI on the season after the 1 RBI night at the dish. Nelson Cruz and Kyle Seager are now tied for a team-high in RBI with 96. C Mike Zunino (.218 AVG) contributed to the rest of the Mariners' runs with a 2-RBI night at the plate going 2-for-5 at the dish. Zunino connected for a pair of singles, and now has 29 RBI on the season to date. 

On the mound in this one, the southpaw LHP James Paxton took the ball for his 19th start of the 2016 season. Of those 19 starts, Paxton has had more positive outings than negative for sure. Friday night was another very positive outing for J Pax as he went 7.0 innings strong giving up just 1 run on 5 hits (earned) while walking NONE and striking out 9 Twins on the night! With the fantastic outing, Paxton earned himself a win, and now has an individual W-L record of 5-7 on the season with an ERA of 3.72 in just under 120.0 innings tossed this year so far. Rookie RHP Dan Altavilla (1.00 ERA) immediately came in for relief going 1.0 inning while striking out 1. RHP Arquimedes Caminero (3.62 ERA) then finished this great night for the Mariners giving up 1 walk while striking out 1 in ninth inning's work. 

WHAT'S NEXT? : 

Our Seattle Mariners will now look to extend their road winning streak to 8 games come Saturday night at Target Field for Game 2 of this 3-game weekend set with Minnesota. LHP Ariel Miranda (5-1, 4.07 ERA) and the M's are set and ready to take on MIN RHP Tyler Duffey (8-11, 6.08 ERA). Miranda, who has looked really well in previous starts, will now look to keep things going and keep that September ERA of his low come Saturday night. The start will be Miranda's 9th of the season, but also his 11th appearance. Be sure to catch all of the action on ROOT Sports NW or listen in on 710 ESPN Seattle Radio! First pitch start time is scheduled for 4:10 PM PAC, 7:10 PM ET! 

MARINERS 365 NOTES: 

C Steve Clevenger has been suspended for the remainder of the season without pay after posting controversial tweets on his Twitter account. General Manager Jerry Dipoto made the decision to suspend him without pay on Friday afternoon (9/23/16). Clevenger was on the 60-day disabled list with a hand fracture suffered earlier this season. 

This is Tom Hayden signing off saying Go Mariners! Stay #TrueToTheBlue as our M's #KeepFighting for the PostSEAson.