Anderson unravels late in disappointing opening to crucial homestand

SEATTLE -- Plenty has been made of the dichotomy between the Mariners’ August schedule -- one of the toughest in MLB -- and their September slate, which sees them play five games against the two teams ahead of them in the division and five series against the three worst teams in baseball.

But the games, of course, aren’t played on paper. And despite coming back home with a bit of momentum after taking two of three at Fenway Park, the Mariners stalled out once again in a 7-4 loss to the A’s on Thursday at T-Mobile Park that tumbled them to six games back of the first-place Astros in the American League West thanks to Houston beating the White Sox.​

The club has won three straight games just once in the second half -- in its opening homestand out of the All-Star break.

“Tough one to start the homestand with,” said Dan Wilson, whose own night ended in the sixth inning when he was ejected by home-plate umpire James Hoye.

Pitching on normal rest for the first time in his professional career, Mariners No. 1 prospect Kade Anderson allowed runs in three of the five innings he threw, giving up four runs on seven hits and a pair of walks. He finished with eight whiffs -- including just three on his secondaries -- and five of the A’s hits had exit velocities over 103.5 mph.

“I don’t think it holds up to the standard I put on myself and my teammates put on [me],” said MLB Pipeline's No. 5 overall prospect. “Just unacceptable tonight, and I look forward to going out there again.”

The club has said that Anderson is working on a soft 80-pitch limit -- although Thursday was actually the first time he finished his outing under that bar. Thursday, though, was another start in which the rookie star ran into trouble in his third pass against the top of the opposing lineup.

Anderson gave up a first-pitch home run to Zack Gelof in the first and another run in the second, but got through four frames on 57 pitches, then wrapped up his second time through the order with two quick outs on seven pitches. But Henry Bolte drew a four-pitch walk to open the A’s third look against him, and Gelof roped a double into the left-field corner to put runners on the corners. Anderson let Gelof steal second without a throw, and both runners came home on the very next pitch on Lawrence Butler’s single to center.

“He competed for us, it was just not getting himself into good counts,” Wilson said. “When you’ve got to come back into the count, you’re going to have to find the zone.”

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Anderson finished with 11 first-pitch strikes to his 22 batters, finding himself behind in counts early. He also struggled to land his slider, getting just two whiffs and one called strike on 23 offerings with it.

“It’s just an ongoing process,” Anderson said. “Stuff’s not always going to feel perfect at all times throughout an outing. You’ve got to understand that in certain situations, you’ve got to go with something else. I would say that I could lean on the other three in that situation. I wasn’t commanding the slider great tonight. But at the same time, just trying to get the other ones.”

Meanwhile, the Seattle lineup forced 40 pitches out of A’s starter Jack Perkins in a three-run first inning, but couldn’t break the game open before faltering the rest of the way. Despite racking up nine hits and eight walks, the Mariners struck out a season-high 18 times, went 4-for-16 with runners in scoring position and left 14 runners on base, going down quietly against six innings off bullpen ball by their guests.

“We just weren’t able to find barrels in those situations, and that’s what you need to do,” Wilson said. “Sometimes, you start to look for too much and you get away from what you do. That’s what can happen in those situations. I know we’re pushing, and sometimes you try to do too much.”