SEATTLE -- Kade Anderson wasn’t going to get beat the same way twice on Wednesday afternoon.
Facing Rangers slugger Jake Burger for the third time through, with the chance to clear the sixth inning for the first time in his extremely young career, the Mariners’ ascending left-hander stared down his outing’s one true jam.
And he knew that, regardless of outcome, these were his final moments.
Burger had taken Anderson deep for a solo homer in the second inning, the lone run that the rookie had given up all afternoon. And this time around, with Brandon Nimmo on first base after a one-out single, Burger represented the tying run.
With Seranthony Domínguez warming, Anderson got Burger to swing over a gnarly changeup that, despite hanging over the plate, had enough juice pulled off it to fool Texas’ big bat.
Crisis averted, lead preserved and an eventual 3-2 victory secured -- along with Anderson's first Major League win as the pitcher of record.
“This is just the beginning,” said Anderson, who gave up six hits with one walk and five strikeouts over 81 pitches, “and this is also just the standard that I set myself to.”
Anderson became the Mariners' first left-handed starter to win a game as the pitcher of record since Marco Gonzales on May 23, 2023. Obviously, the Mariners haven’t had a lefty starter since.
More so, this was precisely the type of punctuating finish that the Mariners have been hoping to see from Anderson since making his much-anticipated MLB debut nearly three weeks ago.
There have been flashes of the dominance he exhibited in the Minors, as the sport’s top pitching prospect. And it seemed bound to happen before the regular season concludes, on sheer talent. But each of his first three outings have also featured inflection points of damage, all of which ended with him walking off the mound after giving up a big hit or walk.
Not this time.
“It was a tight game, so we were pulling for him to get through six because we really wanted to, but also to get him through six, because that is a big boost of confidence there,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “I thought he looked, to me, like he was almost getting stronger as the game went on, which is always a good sign. And I think his confidence continued to grow there throughout the game.”
Indeed, Anderson showed a noticeable velocity uptick as the game went on -- throwing his fastest pitches to his final batters.
The early homer to Burger came on a 92.4 mph heater that was away but over the plate in a 2-1 count. But to set up the final K, he was pumping 95 mph.
And it was actually not because he was thinking the end was near.
“No, I think that’s another adjustment I've had throughout my starts is stop thinking it's the last inning,” Anderson said. “It's more of like just another inning type of thing. And I think that's kind of gotten me over the hump, to where I'm not trying to empty the tank necessarily, and just treat it like another inning. And stop trying to think like the finish line is near.”
Wednesday also marked the first time that Anderson effectively navigated the third time through an opposing lineup.
Over his first three starts, he’d only recorded two outs among the nine total batters he’d faced the third time -- with two homers, one double, two walks and no strikeouts, leading to four RBIs. But against Texas, he generated a flyout to Ezequiel Duran, then got Corey Seager to bounce into a huge inning-ending double play to clear the fifth.
That set up the sixth, when Anderson got a lineout to Justin Foscue, surrendered the single to Nimmo, then shut things down with consecutive K's, to Wyatt Langford then Burger.
“That in-game adjustment today, it just felt different for whatever reason, and it kind of felt like I was back out there pitching again,” Anderson said. “And it shouldn't take me this long to get there. But once again, that's the standard.”
The Mariners haven’t had much to celebrate these days, but Anderson’s first big milestone -- with the season’s finish line unfortunately appearing in sight -- was cause for a commemoration.