SEATTLE — Nathan Karns outpitched James Paxton in spring training to get the No. 5 spot in Seattle’s rotation.
He struggled in his Mariners’ debut, though, and his new teammates weren’t able to bail him out at the plate.
Karns allowed four runs over five innings and Seattle struck out 10 times against left-hander Rich Hill while losing to the Oakland Athletics 6-1 Saturday night.
Seattle was hoping for a strong debut from Karns after he was acquired from Tampa Bay via trade in the offseason. Instead, Karns (0-1) nearly didn’t make it out of the first inning, needing 35 pitches and giving up two runs to open the game on singles by Danny Valencia and Jed Lowrie.
“I was not as crisp as I would like to start a game. They definitely worked the counts, fouled off some tough pitches,” Karns said. “I think the first out I had a couple full-count foul balls and eventually got him to roll over, but they did a good job of battling out there.”
Karns avoided trouble again until the fifth, when he gave up a single to Coco Crisp and missed on a 3-2 pitch to that led to Josh Reddick’s homer. The changeup was the pitch he wanted to throw. The location was the problem.
“We just left it in too much of the plate in a situation where we could have been a little more risky and thrown it below the zone,” catcher Chris Iannetta said. “I think that’s one pitch we’d like to have back and it kind of changes the complexion of his outing and the game.”
Hill (1-1) had Robinson Cano, Kyle Seager and most of Seattle’s lineup guessing at his curveball and slider. But the key for Hill was being able to spot his fastball around flipping the breaking pitches. Hill allowed just one run and five hits and a walk, and the Mariners could never make the needed adjustments.
“Obviously (he) had us off our game tonight and when you don’t hit, it’s just tough to get anything going, any momentum, anything like that,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said.
Iannetta had the lone blow, with a solo home run in the second inning. Otherwise, Hill was in control. Hill has never struck out more than 11 in his career, but he has now struck out 10 in four of his past six starts dating back to last September. Hill’s best inning was his last — he shut down the middle of Seattle’s order by striking out Cano, Seager and Iannetta around a hit batter and a single from Nelson Cruz.
“When he’s on, he’s unpredictable,” Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. “He can throw his breaking ball in any count, but it was the command of the fastball that was much better than we’ve seen. This was a big game for him and for us with the rotation. We really needed someone to get deep into the game for us.”
HOME RUN STREAK
Iannetta’s home run was his first for Seattle and continued a strong first week for the catcher. Seattle has now homered in each of its first five games for the first time since 1998. Seattle started the 1998 season with home runs in eight games.
MILESTONE WATCH
Crisp picked up the 300th and 301st stolen bases of his career. Crisp became the ninth active player to reach 300 career steals by stealing second in the first inning and later came around the score.
Cano extended his hitting streak to 21 games dating to last season with a ground-rule double in the third inning.
UP NEXT
Athletics: Chris Bassitt (0-0) makes his second start of the season. Bassitt had a no decision his first time out against the White Sox giving up four runs in 5 1/3 innings.
Mariners: Felix Hernandez (0-1) makes his first home start of the season. Hernandez lost on opening day despite allowing just one hit in six innings to Texas. He was hampered by five walks.
