During Dave Robert’s first year as manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, he’s had to deal with a comical amount of injuries. The starting rotation has at times been turned on its head, yet the Dodgers find themselves in the thick of a division race.
With Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu on the disabled list for the foreseeable future, and Alex Wood expected to be out until September, the Dodgers have a fourth southpaw who is working his way toward a return in Brett Anderson
He took the mound Thursday night for High-A Rancho Cucamonga at LoanMart Field in his first rehab start. Anderson allowed one run on five hits in the predetermined three innings pitched.
According to Ron Cervenka of Think Blue LA, Anderson was pleased to not only reacquaint himself with pitching in a game, but also experience unexpected sequences:
“It was good to get up and down three times,” Anderson said after his outing. “Some weird plays and circumstances and stuff that you’d rather deal with now with a guy going down in the outfield and delays and stuff that probably doesn’t happen in the big leagues. And then fielding my position in the first inning and getting some of those plays out of the way, and getting back to pitching and worrying about pitching rather than how my body is feeling and this, that and the other, and focusing on getting outs and getting my pitches back to where I want them and all that sort of stuff.”
Anderson in the bottom of the first inning came off the mound to field a slow grounder up the third base line to end the inning and strand a pair of runners. Then in the bottom of the second, two High-A Desert Mavericks outfielders collided in the gap on a ball hit by Ariel Sandoval.
Anderson threw 36 pitches over his three innings of work, then tossed a quick bullpen session to cap off his night. The 28-year-old is expected to make two more rehab starts before the Dodgers consider reinstating Anderson from the 60-day disabled list.
