Seattle Mariners ace James Paxton authored one of the best starts of the young season on Wednesday night, striking out 16 Oakland Athletics across seven shutout frames.

Paxton, who entered the night having fanned 44 batters in his first 31 1/3 innings on the year, permitted just five hits and one walk. He struck out the side on three different occasions, including in his final inning of work. Fourteen of his 16 strikeouts came swinging:

The outing required 103 pitches from Paxton, with 30 of those resulting in a swing-and-miss. That figure includes 24 whiffs on his heater, which averaged 96 mph and topped out at 98.2 mph, per Statcast. Paxton coerced five empty swings on 12 cutters, and also got a swing-through on his knuckle curve.

Coming into the night, no pitcher in baseball had struck out more than 15 batters in a game this season. Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole, both of the Houston Astros, had each punched out 14 apiece, with Verlander's outing coming on Tuesday. Paxton's season high had been 10, a figure he'd reached twice so far this year. For reference, Paxton's 16 Ks stand as the fourth-most in M's history -- Randy Johnson had a pair of 19-K games, as well as an 18-K outing.

That Paxton was able to shove to this extent against the A's is impressive within itself. Oakland's lineup has been one of the best in baseball so far, ranking second in the American League in weighted runs created -- an advanced statistic that adjusts for ballpark. At the same time, the A's ranked 19th in the majors in strikeout rate, at 23.5 percent.

Paxton's performance saw his seasonal ERA improve from 5.12 to 4.19. Alas, his effort resulted in a no-decision, as reliever Juan Nicasio blew his team's 2-0 lead in the eighth inning.