Tyler Anderson has put together an impressive first season with the Los Angeles Dodgers, but his past two starts after pursuing a no-hitter were a break from what had been seen from the left-hander.
Anderson bounced back against the San Diego Padres, holding them to just one run over 6.1 innings. Anderson didn’t allow the run until his final inning of work. Brusdar Graterol did aid his cause by stranding an inherited runner.
But the strong start could be traced to Anderson sorting out mechanical issues. “Overall, I felt better,” he said after the Dodgers’ 7-2 win. “I felt like I was able to get back in my delivery.
“I’d kind of gotten out on my last couple (starts). That would kind of feed my throw the right way and throw the ball the way I wanted to coming out of my hand. Wasn’t perfect, but I think overall, just a little more content with it.”
Although Anderson struggled with his delivery against the Cincinnati Reds and Colorado Rockies, he doesn’t believe it was fully to blame for subpar performances.
“You know, I feel like for me, my number one goal is to try to compete out there. So when I do get out if it, I feel like I can still kind of make pretty good pitches,” Anderson said.
“But to me when guys aren’t swinging and missing, or guys are taking better swings at pitches in better locations, it’s just telling me that I’m kind of out my delivery a little bit and they’re seeing a little bit better.
“So for me it’s just trying to figure out how to get back into that where everything kind of looks the same coming out.”
Anderson worried about Dodgers’ big inning
After Anderson a scoreless first inning, the Dodgers provided him with an early lead behind Freddie Freeman, Will Smith and Justin Turner each hitting a solo home run off Yu Darvish. The run support was welcomed, but also some cause for concern.
“That was great. It scared me a little bit though, I’m not going to lie,” Anderson said.
“You go out there and we hit three homers and flew out to the wall a couple times, and I was like man, you know this sometimes this park can play small in big games, so you want to go out there and try to get some ground balls if you can.”
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