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Paxton's scoreless streak snapped at 23 innings

Jennifer Buchanan / USA TODAY Sports / Reuters

James Paxton's season-opening scoreless streak came to an end Thursday at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, where the Seattle Mariners left-hander gave up his first run of 2017 on an RBI single from Adam Rosales in the third that snapped his stretch of 23 consecutive frames without allowing a run.

Paxton, who last week became just the fourth pitcher in American League history to start his season with three scoreless outings of at least six innings, took the mound Thursday with the longest scoreless streak to start a season in franchise history (21 IP), and worked his way into a tie for the 11th-longest ever by a Mariners pitcher before Rosales ended his run.

"The confidence - he's fearless," Mariners manager Scott Servais told the Associated Press after Paxton's previous outing. "That's the mentality you have to have."

Heading into Thursday, Paxton, 28, ranked third among qualified pitchers in WAR (1.0), having notched 22 strikeouts while holding opponents to a minuscule .113 batting average over 21 shutout frames.

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