James Paxton turned in another promising start as the Los Angeles Dodgers began their road trip with a 3-0 win over the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The left-hander allowed just three hits and did not allow a run while collecting six strikeouts against three walks in five innings of work. The performance followed a strong outing against the Colorado Rockies in which he gave up one run over a season-high seven innings pitched.
When asked to explain his recent success, Paxton said he has been able to throw his curveball lower in the strike zone, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“Just executing the curveball better, getting it down in the zone, bouncing it when I want to,” Paxton said of the difference in his past two starts. “I feel like before I was leaving it in zone and I wasn’t bouncing it. That doesn’t get you swing-and-miss.
“We threw a few changeups. … I just wasn’t landing it for a strike so it was more of a show pitch. We’re still working on that, trying to find a release point on it to get it in the strike zone and make it usable. But really the curveball was working so well tonight we didn’t really need another offspeed pitch.”
Paxton threw 91 pitches against the White Sox, including his knuckle curve 34 times. He registered 15 swings and misses, which was up from the 13 he got in his previous outing.
The swings and misses have led to more strikeouts as Paxton has punched out 14 batters over his last two starts. He is now striking out 6.2 batters per nine this season, which remains considerably lower than his career average of 9.6.
James Paxton getting it done
James Paxton’s 2024 season
With his solid outing against the White Sox, Paxton is now 7-1 with a 3.39 ERA, 4.78 FIP and 1.30 WHIP in 71.2 innings pitched across 14 starts this season.
The Dodgers are now 11-3 in games started by Paxton this year.
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