HOUSTON, TEXAS – Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Tyler Anderson had a return to form in Friday night’s matchup against the Houston Astros, the first of a four-game series between the teams as the season winds down.
Anderson lasted five innings in his start, his longest outing in three starts and he allowed runs in his time on the mound, the first time he had done so since April 18 against the San Francisco Giants. Still, Anderson’s success on the mound wasn’t without difficulty, and there were at least one instance that the 34 four-year-old starter found himself in hot water.
The first spot of trouble came in the fourth inning when the first three Astros Anderson faced loaded the bases between two walks and a single by Christian Walker. Staring down that baes loaded situation, Anderson received a blessing in the form of a double play off a ground ball to third baseman Yoan Moncada, who fired to home to keep a run from scoring and catcher Logan O’Hoppe followed by firing back to third base in turn to catch the other lead runner in Walker. Anderson capped off the inning, still under pressure with runners at first and second, with a swinging strikeout to escape the inning scoreless.
Things were smooth sailing for the Angels until the sixth inning, with reliever Robert Stephenson now on the mound for the Halos. A wild pitch from Stephenson allowed runners to advance to second and third and with the game still scoreless, two runners threatening on the bases can be a deadly situation. Still, Stephenson escaped damage with a groundout by Maurcio Dubón to escape the inning and maintain the scoreless tie.
The Angels’ luck did run out come the seventh inning. Angels second baseman Christian Moore was unable to handle a 112 MPH rocket off the bat of Yordan Alvarez. Moore got his glove on this missile, but it skipped away from him as Alvarez reached first and Moore was charged with an error.
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Houston Astros first base coach Dave Clark (23) celebrates third baseman Carlos Correa (1) RBI single against the Los Angeles Angels in the seventh inning at Daikin Park.
The next batter to come up was Astros star José Altuve, who popped a long fly ball into mid left-center field. Moore was playing just behind second base in the shift and got a read on the ball. Possibly as a way to make up for the previous play against Alvarez, Moore chased the ball well into the outfield, even as both Taylor Ward and Bryce Teodosio closed in, but Moore was unable to make the backwards basket catch as the ball plopped in front of him and put Astros on first and second. That set the stage for Carlos Correa to single in the first run of the game for for either team.
The Astros tacked on an insurance run in the eighth inning, but a two-run showing from a pitching staff would typically spell a successful outing in most games. The Angels batters on the other hand, mustered just two hits while striking out 11 times in the game, lacking any run support for the pitching staff on the other side of the game. The Angels have been hard pressed for offense lately, and have scored three-or-less runs in their last seven games.