Altavilla unleashes ‘electric stuff’ in MLB debut

CHICAGO — Mariners manager Scott Servais said before Dan Altavilla’s Major League debut that it wasn’t fair to draw any comparisons to rookie closer Edwin Diaz in spite of their similar path to the big leagues this season, but it was hard not to see the same kind of sizzle in the rookie right-hander’s impressive opening act in Saturday’s 9-3 loss to the White Sox.

The hard-throwing 24-year-old touched 100 mph on the radar gun and unleashed a couple of nasty sliders in a 1-2-3 eighth inning in which he zipped through the heart of the White Sox order, getting easy grounders from Melky Cabrera and Jose Abreu and then striking out Todd Frazier.

“The bright spot obviously was the young kid, Altavilla,” Servais said after an otherwise tough night at U.S. Cellular Field. “That was a very positive outing. Electric stuff. I don’t know what they’re drinking at Tennessee, but they throw pretty hard down there. I’m glad to get that one out of the way for him. We’ll see where he fits in our bullpen going forward.”

Altavilla arrived earlier in the day from Jackson, Tenn., where he’d been …

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