Mariners' James Paxton no-hits Blue Jays

Steve Gardner | USA TODAY

Seattle Mariners left-hander James Paxton has thrown the third no-hitter of the 2018 season and the sixth in franchise history.

The native of British Columbia did it in his home country, holding the Toronto Blue Jays hitless in a 5-0 Mariners victory.

"Of all places, to do it in Toronto, it's pretty amazing," Paxton said on a postgame television interview.

The closest the Blue Jays got to a hit came in the seventh inning when third baseman Kyle Seager made a full-length diving stop on Kevin Pillar's grounder down the line, then slung an off-balance throw that first baseman Ryon Healy snagged on one hop.

Kyle Seager’s going to get a nice steak dinner from @James_Paxton. pic.twitter.com/sZK2O0NaQC — MLB (@MLB) May 9, 2018

Paxton (2-1) was efficient in his effort, throwing just 99 pitches -- 64 of them for strikes. He walked three batters and struck out seven, getting Josh Donaldson to ground out to third for the final out of the game.

Apparently he still had plenty left in the tank. His final two pitches — 99 and 99.5 mph to Donaldson -- were his fastest pitches of the night.

Paxton was equally dominant in his last start, striking out a career-high 16 batters against the Oakland A's.

He now has 67 strikeouts in 47 2/3 innings. His 12.7 strikeouts per nine innings ranks third in the majors among starting pitchers behind Max Scherzer and Gerrit Cole.

The two no-hitters earlier this season were by Oakland's Sean Manaea on April 21 against the Boston Red Sox — and a combined no-hitter by the Los Angeles Dodgers' Walker Buehler, Tony Cingrani, Yimi Garcia and Adam Liberatore four days ago against the San Diego Padres.

Paxton became the first Canadian pitcher since 1945 to throw an no-hitter.

Follow Steve Gardner on Twitter @SteveAGardner