Red Sox’s James Paxton Refutes Notion After Shaky Outing Vs. Giants

James Paxton’s mind wasn’t elsewhere when he took the Oracle Park mound for the middle game between the Red Sox and the Giants.

It would have been tough to blame Paxton if he was a little distracted. The Major League Baseball trade deadline is Tuesday, and the veteran left-hander has been floated as a player who potentially could be on the move. Saturday marked Paxton’s final showing for possible suitors, and it didn’t go as well as the Red Sox or the southpaw could have hoped.

Paxton labored through five innings in San Francisco, where he allowed one run on eight hits across 104 pitches. The 34-year-old, to his credit, battled tooth and nail and gave Boston a chance to extend its win streak, but the Giants walked off with a 3-2 win after the visitors rallied in the ninth.

Speaking with the media after the game, Paxton insisted he wasn’t thinking about the deadline during his latest start.

“I don’t think that’s a thing at all,” Paxton told reporters, per MassLive. “I wasn’t thinking about that at all out there. I was just focused on helping our team win a ballgame.”

Paxton also acknowledge he would “love” to stay with the Red Sox, who entered Sunday 2 1/2 games back of the final American League wild-card spot. And since Boston is looking for more starting pitching leading up to the deadline, it feels like Paxton will finish the season with the Red Sox.

Boston will try to get back in the win column Sunday when it wraps up its weekend set in the Bay Area. NESN’s full coverage of the series finale begins at 3 p.m. ET.