SACRAMENTO — Angels starting pitcher Tyler Anderson’s appearance against the Athletics on August 16 was plagued by walks that came back to bite him. 

Anderson walked five batters in his four inning appearance the A’s, which ties his second-highest total in 2025 and his second highest total in a game as an Angel. Two of those walks came against the leadoff batters in the first two innings while the remaining three came in a costly third.

Anderson’s trouble with the strike zone directly correlated with an advantage for the A’s as four of those five walked batters found their way home to give the A’s a 4-1 lead by the third inning. 

The first strike from the A’s came in the first inning. After walking A’s catcher Shea Langeliers to lead off the game Anderson eventually yielded a two-run home run to outfielder Colby Thomas to put the A’s on the board first.

The second phase of damage came in the bottom of the fourth inning. Anderson escaped walking the lead off batter for the first time in the game, but three walks later in the inning loaded the bases to bring up shortstop Darell Hernáiz. Hernáiz initially fell behind 0-2, giving Anderson an opportunity to escape the inning unharmed, but the A’s infielder eventually battled back to bring the count to an even 2-2. Hernáiz then popped a four-seam fastball in the top of the zone into center field to bring home two runners that had reached base on free passes by Anderson to improve the A’s to a 4-1 lead. 

Anderson’s trouble with the strike zone has been somewhat consistent since he joined the Angels. Since joining the team in 2023, Anderson has posted his three highest BB percentages since 2019 and three of the five highest in his career. However, Anderson had been trending upward this season and had not allowed more than two walks in his last three games in his last three games before Saturday night’s bout.

Offensively, the Angels didn’t give Anderson or any of his successors from the bullpen much support, scoring just two runs on the way to a 7-2 loss. This makes two straight losses against the A’s, who are last in the America League West, after a triumphant sweep of the Dodgers the series before. Their struggles against their division rivals couldn’t come at a worse time for the Angels as they sit seven games back of the third Wild Card spot with the season dwindling down.