The Los Angeles Dodgers reduced their magic number to one after their 6-0 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday thanks to another solid performance from Tyler Anderson.
In his 25th start of the season, Anderson logged seven innings of shutout baseball, with just five hits allowed. It was a third consecutive start of seven innings and his first without allowing an earned run since Aug. 7 against the San Diego Padres.
Anderson only tallied two strikeouts on Monday, but helped his own cause by inducing three double plays. The outing earned Anderson praise from Dodgers manager Dave Roberts for what’s been a stellar season, via SportsNetLA:
“Very impressed. I didn’t know a whole lot about him. Obviously we saw him from the other side when he was in Colorado mostly, but just kind of learning more about him, the way he prepares, this guy is a pro in every sense of the word,” Roberts said. “He’s accountable and his fastball command is better than I gave him credit for at the start of the year. And the changeup, with the added usage of it and command of it, is pretty impressive. Over the course of the season he’s continued to pass every test. Like I said abut some other guys, I don’t know where we would be without him. I’m happy for him.”
Anderson’s performance improved his record to 15-3 with an ERA of 2.62, 3.42 FIP, 1.03 WHIP and a .223 batting average allowed.
Anderson’s emergence this season has been key to the Dodgers withstanding injuries to Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler and Tony Gonsolin throughout the year.
Keys for Tyler Anderson
Much of Anderson’s success has come from a reworked arsenal and emphasis on what he does best, which is mixing a changeup and fastball. In a Sept. 6 start against the San Francisco Giants in which he threw seven innings, with three earned runs on two homers, Anderson credited a few tweaks to his game plan for his success.
Anderson and catcher Will Smith understood the Giants would come out aggressive and they used that to their advantage by forcing them into advantageous counts and locating pitches in spots that limited damage, which led to his superb outing.
More must-reads: