SEATTLE — Kade Anderson didn’t win his Seattle Mariners debut, but Randy Arozarena made sure he wasn’t a loser.
Arozarena hit two home runs, including a walk-off two-run shot with two out in the bottom of the ninth, for a 5-4 win over the Chicago Cubs in front of an announced sellout crowd of 45,681 at T-Mobile Park on Saturday.
Arozarena also took a long ball away from the Cubs (74-56), leaping at the left-field wall in the third inning to take one away from Chicago’s Kevin Alcantar.
“I thought it was long gone, honestly,” said Anderson, who allowed three runs over 5 ⅔ innings in his first MLB game. “I’m just grateful that ball stayed in the park.”
Anderson said he felt Arozarena’s game-winner coming.
“Randy’s a special player,” said Anderson, who helped Seattle (62-68) stay within three games of Houston in the AL West standings and two games out of a wildcard playoff spot. “He makes special plays like that. It’s really fun to watch.”
Arozarena strutted to the plate after Leo Rivas drove in Weston Wilson – a late addition to the lineup – who began a two-out rally with a double.
Seattle’s lone All-Star stepped in the batter’s box with a plan, but felt a little doubt as he took strike one in the low-inside corner. Arozarena doubled down on a second straight 85 mph slider from Jacob Webb.
“I wasn’t looking to (hit) a home run,” Arozarena said through third-base coach Carlos Cardoza.
But Arozarena felt like he knew what was coming.
“My plan was to sit breaking ball,” he said. “I saw some breaking balls yesterday from him, and he got the better of me. But I went in committed to that plan of hitting the breaking ball. When I’ve had doubt, it doesn’t necessarily turn my way. But I was fully committed to my plan, and I was able to make the most of it sitting on that breaking ball.”
Arozarena’s heroics took what looked to be an eventual L away from Anderson and moved it over to Webb’s ledger. Though the pitching win went to reliever Michal Rucker after his clean ninth inning, it was a strong debut for Anderson, the No. 3 overall pick out of LSU in the 2025 MLB Draft.
“I thought he threw the ball extremely well,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “Showed the poise that we all knew he had, and just really handled his first start very, very well.”
Without Arozarena’s heroics, the story of the game might well have been Anderson’s final two pitches – both of which landed over the center field wall.
Though he sometimes pulls starting pitchers after five innings, Wilson stayed with his new left-hander and his 2-1 lead to face MVP candidate Pete Crow-Armstrong to lead off the sixth with Anderson’s pitch count at just 72. The left-handed-hitting Crow-Armstrong doubled, but he was erased from the bases when Seiya Suzuki grounded into a double play.
Alex Bregman, a Seattle nemesis during his days with the Houston Astros, came to the plate as the second straight right-handed hitter to face Anderson.
The next two pitches landed where no Mariners outfielders could reel them back in, well over the wall in center field. Suddenly it was 3-2 Chicago, and Wilson walked out to take the ball away from his rookie pitcher.
“He still had some pitches to go, and we thought he was throwing the ball extremely well,” Wilson said. “You know, a couple pitches that found a lot of plate, and they put some good swings on it.
“But I think the way he handled everything, the way he used all his stuff, we saw everything today, and he wasn’t afraid to throw anything in any count. I just thought, for a first time out there, he looked very, very comfortable.
Despite the late damage, Anderson gave the Mariners a solid start, allowing three earned runs on five hits and two walks while striking out five Cubs. He threw 81 pitches, including 53 strikes.
Anderson allowed one less run Saturday than he had in all of June, July and August combined at Double-A Arkansas, where he went 10-1 with a 1.06 ERA in 18 starts before the callup.
He pitched in front of about 20 friends and family from his native Louisiana.
“I felt like early on I did a good job of getting in the zone – lost it a little bit in the middle,” Anderson said. “There’s always going to be something to build on. And felt like I didn’t have my best stuff today, but gave the team a chance to win. “Doesn’t matter what the stat book is, and just want to go out there and give the opportunity a chance, the team a chance to win. So that’s what happened. “
Arorena’s heroics began early with a leadoff homer, and by game’s end he’d become just the seventh player in MLB history to hit leadoff and walkoff homers in the same game.
He hammered Cubs starter David Peterson’s 94 mph fastball 415 feet over the center field wall. Two innings later, Arozarena — who has been a below-average defensive player (-0.4 WAR) in left field this season – robbed Amaya by reaching over the left field wall in front of the Cubs’ bullpen.
“Three RBIs, stealing a homer – incredible day for Randy today,” Wilson said. “Carried us offensively, obviously, and just two big blows there.”
Anderson allowed his first Major League hit in the fourth inning, and found his first real trouble in the fifth.
Tyrone Taylor walked and stole second. Pedro Ramirez singled to put runners at first and third with no one out. Alcantara’s sacrifice fly scored Taylor to tie the game at 1-1, but Anderson needed only one more pitch to end the inning. Amaya, robbed by Arozarena earlier, rolled over on Anderson’s 81 mph curveball to Wilson, who started a double play.
Wilson was a late replacement in the lineup for Brendan Donavon, whose hard-luck season continued when he took a foul ball to the head in the batting cages just before game time, according to a Mariners spokesperson.
