It’s not been the easiest start to a career for Kade Anderson, who came into today’s game with a loss and two no decisions on the season, and most recently off a four-run outing against the Athletics he called “unacceptable” and not “holding up to the standard” expected by both himself and his teammates. Much has been made of Anderson not facing hitters three times through the order, something that wasn’t really an issue as he was mowing hitters down in Double-A but has called into question his future as a big-league starter. Today, Anderson calmly navigated through a Rangers lineup that hung double-digit runs on Mariners pitching last night, working through the sixth inning for the first time as a big-leaguer – and something he did just four times at Double-A – and earning his first MLB win.
“This is just the beginning of – and also this is the standard that I set myself to,” said Anderson postgame. “I think pitching is just setting a standard every time you go out there and learning from each individual outing, picking up some things you want to take back [to the next outing] and keep learning with it.”
Anderson worked around some traffic in the first inning, giving up a couple of two-out base hits but getting a soft flyout from Wyatt Langford, first-pitch swinging, to end the threat. Those two base hits each came in two-strike counts, one on a fastball that was too nicely located for a 1-2 count and one on a changeup that stayed high to Brandon Nimmo, highlighting the need for Anderson to develop an out pitch that works at this level. He was able to use the curveball to that effect on a nice swinging strikeout of Corey Seager in the first. Check out the sick movement on this curveball:
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The only mark on Anderson was he did allow some hard contact – seven balls hit over 100 mph exit velocity, although he did get the Rangers to pound that hard contact into the ground half the time. Jake Burger in particular hit Anderson hard, with a lineout in the fourth that was the hardest-hit ball of the game at 109 mph; he got to Anderson in the second with a leadoff solo homer, taking advantage of a 2-1 count (which probably should have been 1-2 if Cal had challenged the first pitch of the at-bat). But Anderson didn’t let it shake him and battled back to get his next three outs to cap the damage there.
What Anderson did particularly well in this game was make in-game adjustments; after Burger got to him in the first, despite the hard-hit ball in the fourth, there was no chance of that ball going out as Anderson executed a changeup that Burger got under. He then capped his day by striking Burger out on the changeup to end the sixth, getting him swinging over it this time.
“Cal came out and said something,” said Anderson. “I’m not gonna tell you what he said, but it meant a lot. And he holds me to that standard as well. That’s why he’s so good. Him holding me to that standard really has helped me continue to adjust to this. What he said just kind of clicked, and that’s the standard I hold myself to now.”
“To me he looked like he was almost getting stronger as the game went on,” said manager Dan Wilson postgame, apparently not privy to what Cal said, either, “which is always a good sign. His confidence continued to grow there throughout the game.” Wilson pointed to Anderson’s secondaries, in particular, as buoying him along, noting that he was able to get the slider down more as the game progressed.
“I would say that the in-game adjustment today, it just felt different for whatever reason,” said Anderson. “It kind of felt like I was back out there pitching again. And it shouldn’t have taken me this long to get there. But once again, that’s the standard.”
The Mariners were able to tie up the game against Rangers starter Cody Bradford in the bottom of the second. Cal Raleigh became the Mariners’ first baserunner in the second inning, extending his on-base streak to 11 games, thanks to a savvy challenge on a called strike three that turned a punchout into a walk. However, the Mariners were quickly in a position of needing a clutch two-out knock after Julio Rodríguez punched out on three pitches, and Josh Naylor popped out after burning a challenge on an obvious strike. Enter the much-maligned Taylor Ward, making a start with a lefty on the mound today for Texas, who came up with said clutch hit:
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This makes me, personally, very happy. Another happy-making thing: Cal Raleigh is in scoring position there because he took it aggressively on Naylor’s popout, which forced the catcher to dive at the wall for the ball. Heads-up baserunning for Cal and a gold star for him.
Anderson again had to navigate around some traffic in the third, leaving a curveball on the plate for Seager, who singled, and then following that up with a walk to Justin Foscue, unable to get a big-league hitter to expand away the same way he might have gotten a minor-leaguer to do. But he got a weak ground ball from Nimmo, first-pitch swinging on a slider, and then went full count with Langford before striking him out swinging on a slider.
Anderson then hung a clean fourth inning, his first of the day, and the Mariners rewarded him with some two-out offense in the bottom of the inning: Josh Naylor reached on what should have been an inning-ending groundout to Seager that instead took a funny hop, and then Taylor Ward made that mistake count by working a walk, increasing my happiness meter all the way into the double digits. Cole Young then continued what’s been a hot September for him, demolishing this offensively bad fastball from Bradford for a two-run double that missed being a homer by about one Cole Young.
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After a dismal August, Young has roared back in the early days of September. He’s increased his wRC+ from 53 all the way to 132.
“I feel like sometimes in August, you just get caught up and try to do too much or try to come through in a situation, and put pressure on that,” said Young, who is in his second (2nd) big-league August. “But I feel like going into this month, I’m just trying to trust my routine, trust the process, and just try to hit the ball hard somewhere, and if it gets caught, it gets caught. But just trusting my abilities and putting the ball in play.”
“I’m always just trying to simplify things, and I feel like it’s easy to get caught up in certain results and all of that stuff. So it’s just big for me to stay simple and hit the ball hard somewhere and not really worry about what the outcome is, moreso the process behind it and just trusting that.”
Cole Young keeps it simple
Then it was time for Anderson to face his běte noire: the third time through the order. Before that even started, though, he gave up a leadoff single in the fifth to nine-hole hitter Cody Freeman, but then was able to execute a well-located four-seamer to leadoff man Ezequiel Duran for a weak flyout, and wound up facing the minimum after getting Seager to ground into a 4-3 double play on a changeup. He couldn’t post a clean inning in the sixth, either, giving up a one-out first-pitch single to Nimmo on a four-seamer that wound up in the middle of the plate, but came back to strike out Langford for the second time on the day – and making him burn Texas’s lone remaining challenge in doing so – on a nasty slider and then striking out Burger on the aforementioned changeup to close up a strong day of work for the youngster.
Anderson was pumping 95s in his final inning, with his slider pushing up to 90, making me think he was deliberately emptying the tank, perhaps having been told his day was done. But according to Anderson, this wasn’t the case.
“It was more of a mentality, like, attacking guys. It felt like when I made that adjustment, my velo shot up, I was throwing things more aggressively in the zone. It felt like at some points I was trying to over-locate like throwing something by a dude, and I think that was the biggest game changer.”
“That’s another adjustment I’ve had throughout my starts: stop thinking it’s the last inning. It’s more, it’s just another inning. I think that’s gotten me over the hump to where I’m not trying to empty the tank necessarily, just treat it like another inning and stop trying to think like the finish line is near.”
While I was hoping to see Kade get a chance to face the bottom of the order and make a full turn through all three times, Dan Wilson opted to lift his young starter while he had the lead and end his day on a positive note. Unfortunately, this gave the Mariners bullpen three innings to cover, starting with Seranthony Dominguez. Dominguez led off with a walk to pinch-hitter Joc Pederson on five pitches, four of which were not competitive misses, but got Elias Díaz whiffing after 98. The Rangers continued to empty their bench of lefties with Anderson out of the game, pinch-hitting Evan Carter, who flew out to left. That turned the lineup over for Duran, who grounded out softly on a splitter to quell the threat.
The Mariners had a chance to expand their lead in the bottom of the seventh, with pinch-hitter Laz Montes coming up with a two-out parachute hustle double followed by a J.P. Crawford walk, but Randy Arozarena grounded out to end the threat, giving Gabe Speier the same slender lead Dominguez and Anderson had been gifted. Speier immediately gave up one of those runs on a first-pitch middle-middle sinker to Seager, who yanked it just far enough over the wall in left for an opposite-field homer. So it goes. Speier was able to recover and get his next three outs, but the already-narrow-lead was even narrower.
The offense couldn’t add on in the bottom of the inning – despite an unfortunately rare-feeling Julio single – giving Andrés Muñoz, he of the Funko Pop giveaway today, the thinnest of margins. I’m so sick of coming up with adjective for “little,” Mariners offense. Muñoz wobbled out of the gate, walking leadoff hitter Burger on five pitches and prompting a mound visit. After that, though, Muñoz buckled down. Joc Pederson grounded out weakly on a changeup, but it was as good as a bunt, moving pinch-runner Cam Cauley into second. The Rangers went again to their bench for pinch-hitter Nicky Lopez, who was helpless against Muñoz, flailing after 101.2 and then two changeups, each at 94 (aka, as fast as starter Kade Anderson’s fastball). Evan Carter was the Rangers’ last hope, but he went the same way as Lopez: on three pitches, fouling off 101, then the changeup at 94, and then swinging after an absolutely diabolical changeup at 95. I don’t know why this pitch works and frankly, I don’t think it’s my place to.
It stinks to be looking for silver linings in a season that had such hope and promise, but if you’re collecting little glimmers of hope to store away like seeds for the long coming winter, this game had plenty to offer: Cole Young emerging from his August torpor; Lazaro Montes coming up with a pinch-hit hustle double; Andrés Muñoz with a new weapon that can get him out of spirals and also obliterate batters’ souls; and Kade Anderson looking like the pitcher he was in the minors. That’s a lot to dream on, going forward.
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