Paxton (6-2) took the loss Thursday against the Yankees, surrendering four earned runs over five innings. He registered nine strikeouts but also surrendered two home runs and three walks.
The Yankees were aggressive with Paxton early and it paid dividends as New York plated all four of its runs in the first inning. He gave up a leadoff single to Clint Frazier before serving up a home run to Aaron Judge to fall into a 2-0 deficit two batters into the game. He was also taken deep by Miguel Andujar before finally escaping the inning by striking out Greg Bird. Velocity wasn't an issue for Paxton; he was able to consistently hit 96 with his four-seamer and touched 97. However, it was another shaky outing overall, which makes it two in a row after Paxton got shelled by the Red Sox in his last outing. Paxton built up too much goodwill in his first 14 outings for owners to be overly concerned by two shaky starts, but his next outing against Baltimore will establish whether the recent hiccups are a trend or an aberration.