Steve Webb
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — So close! I really thought he was going to pull it out. Tyler Anderson, who was a bit of a ho-hum offseason acquisition for the Dodgers, pitched the game of his life on Wednesday night against the Angels. Using a devastating changeup, Anderson kept the Angels hitters off balance all night, and went 8.1 no-hit innings. It took a triple off the bat of reigning MVP Shohei Ohtani to break up the bid with one out in the ninth. On the other hand, the Dodgers got some early home runs and coasted to a 4-1 victory to sweep this two-game set.
Dodgers get on the board early with two homers
Before we dissect Anderson performance, let’s get the Dodgers’ offense out of the way. Like on Tuesday night, it wasn’t a whole lot, but it was plenty in this one. They got three runs on a Will Smith home run in the bottom of the first, staking the Dodgers to a lead that would hold up the entire game. Smith drove a 84 mph changeup from Reid Detmers over the left field fence, which scored Freddie Freeman and Trea Turner, both of whom had walked.
The score very nearly was 6-0 in the same inning when the Dodgers had a couple more baserunners and Chris Taylor blasted another shot to straightaway centerfield. However, the best player on the planet was back there, and Mike Trout leapt at the fence and pulled the ball out of the sky for the third out of the inning.
However, the Dodgers did get another run of padding in the bottom of the third. Trea Turner led off with a home run of his own, a solo shot on a 0-2 count. It easily cleared the fence in left field and the Dodgers were up 4-0. That was all that they would need.
Anderson brilliant, but pushed very hard
It’s hard to know exactly how to feel about what we witnessed in this one. On one hand, Dave Roberts resisted the Dodgers’ proclivity to lift pitchers who are having a great night. But, on the other hand, Anderson did end up pitching a lot of pitches. 123 to be exact. And for the last four innings or so, he was visibly struggling with some discomfort in his throwing arm. I like that Roberts let Anderson go for it, but I will like it a lot less if he ends up on the IL because of it. Such are the dilemmas of the modern no-hitter.
As far as Anderson’s night goes, though, he was brilliant. But if not for a decision by the official scorer, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. The very first batter of the game, Taylor Ward, popped a ball into shallow right center. It seemed to be Mookie Betts‘ ball, but Betts and Cody Bellinger collided as Betts made the catch, causing both players to tumble to the ground, and the ball to pop out. It was initially called a base hit, but in a move that nobody thought much of so early in the game, the official scorer’s ruling was amended to be an error on Bellinger for running into the fielder Betts. That was the closest the Angels would get to a hit until the 9th inning.
Anderson blows past his pitch count
Long about the sixth inning, Anderson was seen massaging his throwing arm from the bench, as if trying to coax more pitches out of it. Somehow, he convinced Mark Prior and Dave Roberts that he was good to go, because Doc kept running him out there, even as his pitch count climbed north of 100 pitches. His typical outing this year had been somewhere in the 80s for pitch count, so he was really pushing his luck with this one.
However, he kept delivering the goods. He had a throwing error on a little nubber in the seventh, and walked the leadoff man in the eighth, but somehow he was able to work around the traffic. He headed into the ninth with the no-hitter still intact.
Ohtani breaks it up
In the top of the ninth, Anderson would have to retire Trout, Ohtani, and Walsh to get the no-no. When he struck out Mike Trout looking on just five pitches, it looked like he might actually do it. However, Shohei Ohtani had something to say about that. On the first pitch that Anderson threw, Ohtani was able to extend his arms on a cutter and drilled it toward the right field corner.
Mookie Betts had a beat on it, and he took a good route toward the ball. He leapt to make what would have been an incredible catch. However, the ball passed a foot or two beyond Betts’ outstretched glove and skipped across the outfield grass for a hit. By the time Betts got the ball back into the infield, Ohtani was parked at third with a standup triple. The no-hitter was over.
Dave Roberts went to retrieve the ball from Anderson, and sent him to the dugout. Upon leaving, Anderson tipped his cap to a standing ovation from the Dodger Stadium crowd. It was a valiant effort, but in the end, it had fallen just a little short. Still, Anderson has got to be feeling good about how well his stuff played in this one, and he might just have moved up the All Star game pecking order himself with this performance.
Let’s just hope he feels okay tomorrow.
Guardians come into town for a weekend set
Craig Kimbrel came in to finish the game, and promptly gave up a single to the next hitter to push Ohtani’s run across the plate to break up the shut out as well. However, the Angels would get no further, and Kimbrel struck out the final two hitters to end the ballgame and secure the two-game sweep.
The Dodgers relied on their pitching in this series, with knockout performances from both Gonsolin and Anderson to hold the Angels to just one run in two games. The offense got going a little bit as well, so hopefully the momentum can be sustained the rest of the month, as those Padres won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. The game on Friday will be on Apple TV, and Saturday’s game will be on Fox before returning to SportsNet LA for the finale on Sunday afternoon. Clayton Kershaw, who is no stranger to no-hitters himself, will take the mound on Friday’s game. 7:10 start.
Cans of Corn…
- With his performance, Anderson lowered his 2022 ERA to 2.87, good for 9th place in the National League.
- Roberts looked like he was going to bring out the hook a couple of times in this one, but never did.
- Trea Turner got a force out on a play that could have been a hit if he hadn’t made a nice play on a hotshot to short.
- Smith’s homer with a man on second broke an 0-for-19 for the Dodgers with men on base. About time!
- Mookie got robbed on another strike three call in this one, but did not get very good contact in his four at-bats.
- In addition to Trout’s great catch on Taylor’s ball, Dodgers had three or four drives that pushed Angels outfielders against the wall, but didn’t go out.
- I’m officially starting to pray for Tyler Anderson’s overworked arm.
