TORONTO - James Paxton of the Seattle Mariners became the first Canadian to pitch a no-hitter in his native country, shutting down the Blue Jays 5-0 Tuesday night.
He joined Dick Fowler of the 1945 Philadelphia Athletics as the only Canadians to throw no-hitters.
Paxton, of Ladner, British Columbia, pointed to a huge 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."
The 29-year-old lefthander 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 the first one against Boston on April 21 in California. Four Los Angeles Dodgers combined to no-hit 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 for the final out.
Paxton struck out seven, walked three and benefited from an outstanding play by third baseman Kyle Seager. With two outs in the seventh, Seager made a full-length diving stop on speedy Kevin Pillar's grounder down the line, then made an off-balance throw that first baseman Ryon Healy grabbed on one hop.
"The balls that were hit hard went right to people," Paxton said, "and then we had the defense making amazing plays like Kyle's last play. And he had another diving play in the seventh inning, it was just ridiculous."
