Seattle @ Detroit preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 18, 2013 ) Seattle 8, Detroit 0

Seattle Mariners rookie James Paxton has not been fazed by the bright lights of Major League Baseball over his first two starts. Paxton vies for his third straight victory as the Mariners try for a four-game split against the host Detroit Tigers on Thursday afternoon. After winning at St. Louis 4-1 on Saturday, Paxton said he was locked in on the catcher and "didn't really hear the crowd much. I kind of noticed how many people were there after they took me out.''

Paxton will try to duplicate the performance of Hisashi Iwakuma, who allowed four hits in eight innings of Wednesday's 8-0 victory - only the second in Seattle's last 10 games. It wasn't a complete loss for Detroit, though, as it maintained its six-game lead in the American League Central when Cleveland lost at Kansas City 7-2. The Tigers give the ball to Doug Fister, who has lost his last two starts and three of his last four turns but pitched well enough to win in his last outing.

TV: 1:08 p.m. ET, ROOT (Seattle), FSN Detroit

PITCHING MATCHUP: Mariners LH James Paxton (2-0, 0.75 ERA) vs. Tigers RH Doug Fister (12-9, 3.67)

Paxton, who sports a fastball in the 95-96 miles per hour range and an effective curve, held the Cardinals to a pair of hits while striking out five in six innings. It came after the 24-year-old Canadian yielded two runs (one earned) and four hits in six frames of a 6-2 victory over Tampa Bay on Sept. 7. Paxton, a fourth-round draft pick in 2010, was 23-18 with a 3.45 ERA in 66 minor-league games with Class-A Clinton, Double-A Jackson and Triple-A Tacoma.

Fister, who was dealt to Detroit by Seattle at the 2011 trade deadline, allowed one run, eight hits and four walks in 7 2/3 innings of Detroit's 1-0 loss to Kansas City on Saturday. The 29-year-old Californian defeated Boston 3-0 on Sept. 2 with seven shutout innings, but that outing was sandwiched by a pair of starts in which he yielded 12 runs and 21 hits in 11 1/3 innings. Fister defeated his former team April 16 when he allowed two runs in seven innings of a 6-2 victory.

WALK-OFFS

1. Mariners 1B Justin Smoak has six home runs in 42 at-bats over 11 games at Comerica Park.

2. Seattle RHP Danny Farquhar struck out Detroit C Alex Avila for the final out Wednesday - the first time they faced each other. The two were high school teammates at Archbishop McCarthy High School in Southwest Ranches, Fla., and also roommates while playing for Harwich in the Cape Cod League in 2007.

3. Wednesday's victory was just the Mariners' fourth in 17 road games against the AL Central.

PREDICTION: Mariners 3, Tigers 2