SEATTLE -- The leash was longer than maybe expected, and Kade Anderson nearly wiggled through it during the tensest moments of his MLB debut on Saturday afternoon.
The Mariners’ wunderkind left-hander had just been backed by a headsy double play while clinging to a one-run lead in the sixth inning, one out away from the first quality start in what will likely be a career of many.
But on his very next two pitches, the face of Seattle’s pitching future received a harsh welcome to The Show -- via back-to-back homers that rapidly flipped the score and ended his outing against the Cubs on a sour note. Randy Arozarena went on to save the day, though, with a two-run walk-off homer to give the Mariners the dramatic 5-4 win.
Anderson surrendered solo shots to Alex Bregman, who nearly spoiled the Mariners’ eventual win on Friday, then Michael Busch, paving the way for manager Dan Wilson to summon right-hander Carlos Vargas.
The big flies came immediately after Anderson generated a grounder to third baseman Weston Wilson that turned into a 5-3-4 double play, thanks to quick-trigger awareness and a throw to match it from first base baseman Josh Naylor -- which erased a leadoff double from Pete Crow-Armstrong.
PCA’s liner nearly left the yard, too, but it instead nicked the yellow padding atop the right-field wall. Anderson also avoided another homer in the third inning thanks to a remarkable robbery from Arozarena, whose glove went completely over the fence to yank one back from Miguel Amaya.
He finished with three earned runs on five hits and two walks, with five strikeouts. Some of the swing-and-miss was as advertised, including a first-inning punchout to Bregman on a changeup that capped an eight-pitch at-bat.
Anderson was at 72 pitches when sent back out for the sixth, to face the top of the Cubs’ order and NL MVP favorite Crow-Armstrong, just shy of his season-high 80 at Double-A Arkansas.
More telling was that it was the third time through the order, a challenge for even the most established pitchers. For context, the MLB average OPS the third time through is .744, and against Mariners starters, it’s .758.
After Vargas took over, he surrendered consecutive doubles that made it a 4-2 game. The flamethrower was making his season debut after missing nearly four months with a right lat strain suffered on Opening Day.
Anderson arrived with as much fanfare as any pitching prospect in franchise history since Félix Hernández debuted as a 19-year-old prodigy in 2005.
For more recent comparisons, his rapid rise through the Minors was not far off that of Paul Skenes (2024) and Stephen Strasburg (2010), as Anderson is just 13 months removed from being selected with the No. 3 overall pick in last year’s MLB Draft.
He was objectively the best pitcher in the Minors, leading all qualified arms (min. 80 innings) in ERA (1.06), strikeout-to-walk ratio (10.38), K rate (40.5%), opponents’ batting average (.147), opponents’ OPS (.399) and WHIP (0.64) while ranking fifth in walk rate (3.9%).