The Los Angeles Dodgers returned to Dodger Stadium with a 2-1 victory over the Miami Marlins on Friday thanks to a strong start turned in by Tyler Anderson and the clutch play of Trayce Thompson.
Anderson turned in seven innings and gave up just one run on five hits, but was unhappy with his lack of command throughout the night as he also issued three walks. To compensate for not having a complete feel, Anderson focused on taking the game “pitch by pitch” to give the Dodgers a chance to win.
“I think it was more of a thing where I felt like I didn’t have my best command or best stuff,” Anderson explained of his outing. “It was just kind of a day of trying to compete.
“Got into situations where I walked some guys or put guys on, and felt like I wasn’t throwing great pitches. So at that point was kind of like, forget everything else and figure out how to compete.”
Anderson heavily relied on his changeup during the game, throwing it 45 times out of 99 total pitches, a nearly 13% increase from how often he normally throws it. Anderson didn’t go to it more often due to his lack of command but instead believed “they were good pitches to throw.”
The final changeup Anderson threw, however, was the one that allowed the Marlins to take a lead in the seventh inning when Jerar Encarnacion roped an RBI double to left field that drove in Jacob Stallings. “It was a good pitch to the bottom of the zone,” Anderson said.
“I just wanted it more away; 0-2, that’s a frustrating one. But even more frustrating was falling behind to Stallings before that and trying to throw fastballs almost down the middle.
“They were away, but just throwing the same pitch eight times to try to get the leadoff guy out and not walk him. But yeah, two strikes, you don’t want to give up a hit 0-2. It was down and he took a good swing at it.”
Overall this season, the first-time All-Star owns a 2.73 ERA across 135.1 innings with 107 strikeouts to only 28 walks.
Dave Roberts happy with Tyler Anderson’s start
While Anderson felt he could have been better in his start, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts disagreed with that assessment. “Tyler was really good,” Roberts said.
“Very efficient. A team obviously we didn’t know a whole lot about, a lot of young players. The fastball command, changeup, cut fastball, all really good. Tried to sneak him through that seventh inning. He earned that opportunity. Gave up an 0-2 double to Encarnacion, but great outing. Fantastic outing.
“I’m happy we won a ballgame and he didn’t get a loss.”
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