This is a 10* RED DRAGON on the Seattle Mariners.

Marcus Stroman (0-4, 7.52 ERA) had a disastrous April for Toronto, but he enters this one off his best effort so far, giving up two runs off six hits and a walk while striking out five over seven innings in an unfortunate setback to the Twins on Wednesday. Note though that it was the third consecutive time in which he's given up a home run. While he was able to shave off over a full point from his ERA, clearly Stroman still has some issues to take care of before we're comfortable in conceding that he has in fact turned any corners. His counterpart today though looks poised for a breakout performance in our opinion. Seattle flame-thrower James Paxton (1-1, 4.19) has also not been at his best this season, but he's been much better than Stroman and he enters off a huge performance against the A's, striking out 16 over seven shutout frames. Paxton's 17.0 K/9 is first in the entire league (and by an extremely wide margin, with the next closest being Gerrit Cole at 13.2.) Toronto could have a slight edge at the plate (maybe?), but in our opinion, Paxton is getting little respect in this matchup, while Stroman seems over priced completely. All things considered, this line could/should easily be a lot larger. Play on the MARINERS.

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