James Paxton ended his no-hitter by throwing his three fastest pitches of the night

When a pitcher has an impressive outing -- and especially when he throws a complete game -- fans often rush to say that he got stronger as the game went on. Often, this is probably a bunch of hooey. How does it make sense that a pitcher's 80th pitch -- or his 100th or his 120th, even -- was better than his 10th?
On Tuesday night, Mariners starter James Paxtonthrew a no-hitter in his native Canada against the Blue Jays and he quite literally got stronger as he got deeper into the game. In the first inning, his fastball topped out at 95.8 mph, according to Statcast. He threw each of his last three pitches -- Nos. 97, 98 and 99 -- over 98 mph.

In fact, those were Paxton's three fastest pitches of the game. The first strike at 98.3 mph tied the final pitch he threw in the eighth inning to strike out Lourdes Gurriel Jr. His 98th pitch of 99.5 mph and his 99th of 99 mph were his fastest and second-fastest, respectively.
Where did that ability come from? Remember when a bald eagle landed on Paxton's shoulder? Maybe we have a Spiderman situation here:

BREAKING: @James_Paxton becomes the 1st pitcher in @MLB & @Mariners history to throw a no-hitter after being attacked by a bald eagle (probably). pic.twitter.com/Plt83IViYK

— Cut4 (@Cut4) May 9, 2018

It turns out a pitcher's 99th pitch can be stronger than his first. Or, at least it can if that pitcher also goes by "Big Maple."