SEATTLE — Kade Anderson earned his first major league win Wednesday afternoon when the Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers 3-2 at T-Mobile Park. The rookie left-hander worked 6 innings on 81 pitches, allowed 6 hits and 1 earned run, walked 1, and struck out 5. The Texas Rangers had almost no video on Anderson before the game, manager Skip Schumaker said on Rangers Sports Network.
Fans at T-Mobile Park gave Anderson a standing ovation after he struck out Jake Burger to end the sixth. Anderson came into his fourth start 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA. While speaking with reporters afterward, he said the move to the majors has not been the easiest transition, Field Level Media reported.
“It means a lot just having their support,” Anderson said. “I wouldn’t say the easiest transition, by any means. But it makes this feel even better. This is just the beginning of it. This is the standard that I set myself to.”
Kade Anderson Gets Through The Texas Rangers’ Order A Third Time
Over his first three starts, Anderson had recorded 2 outs against the 9 hitters he faced a third time through an order, according to MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer. Those hitters had 2 home runs, 1 double, 2 walks, and 4 RBIs against him, with no strikeouts.
In the fifth, Ezequiel Duran flied out and Corey Seager grounded into an inning-ending double play. Justin Foscue lined out to open the sixth before Brandon Nimmo singled. With Seranthony Domínguez warming, Anderson struck out Wyatt Langford and then got Burger to swing over a changeup with the tying run on first.
Anderson is no longer trying to empty the tank late in his starts.
“I think that’s another adjustment I’ve had throughout my starts is stop thinking it’s the last inning,” Anderson explained. “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.”
Burger had led off the second with his 26th homer, on a 92.4 mph fastball in a 2-1 count. By the final strikeout, Anderson was throwing 95 mph, Kramer reported. Anderson said his velocity jumped once he started throwing more aggressively in the zone.
“It’s more of a mentality of attacking guys,” Anderson said. “I felt like when I made that adjustment, my velocity shot up, just throwing things more aggressively in the zone. It just felt like at some points, I was trying to locate over like throwing something by a dude. That was the biggest game changer.”
Kade Anderson’s First Four Major League Starts
Mariners manager Dan Wilson said Anderson looked like he was getting stronger as the game went on.
“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,” 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.”
Anderson debuted Aug. 22 against the Chicago Cubs and worked 5 2/3 innings, allowing 5 hits and 3 earned runs with 5 strikeouts. Against the Toronto Blue Jays, he worked 4 1/3 innings and gave up 3 hits and 2 runs, walked 3, and struck out 3. On Sept. 4 against the Athletics, he worked 5 innings and allowed 7 hits and 4 runs in a 7-4 loss. He is now 1-1 with a 4.29 ERA over 21 innings. He is the first Mariners left-handed starter to win as the pitcher of record since May 23, 2023, Kramer reported.
Seattle took Anderson third overall in the 2025 draft out of LSU, where he was the Most Outstanding Player of the College World Series. He went 12-1 with a 3.18 ERA and 180 strikeouts in 119 innings that year. This season at Double-A Arkansas, he went 10-1 with a 1.06 ERA and struck out 135 against 13 walks before the call-up.
Logan Gilbert and Jacob deGrom started Thursday afternoon’s series finale. Gilbert is 5-4 with a 3.02 ERA in 19 career starts against the Rangers, according to Field Level Media. Texas opens a three-game series at the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday at 8:40 p.m. CT.
