Anderson an anachronism who just gets outs

ANAHEIM -- The pitchers’ duel at Angel Stadium on Monday night featured a pair of starting pitchers atypical in today’s environment, more similar to a matchup you’d see in the 1970s.

On one side was the Angels’ soft-tossing Tyler Anderson, who entered the game with the fourth-slowest average four-seamer (89.2 mph) among starters. On the other side was Matt Waldron, truly a throwback pitcher in a class of his own in 2024 as a knuckleballer.

It was Anderson’s Angels that came out on top in a 2-1 victory as both starters held up their end of the duel but neither figured in the decision.

An RBI single from Willie Calhoun in the fourth inning and a pinch-hit sacrifice fly from Luis Guillorme in the eighth inning was all the Angels needed.

Waldron threw a combination of knuckleballs, fastballs and sweepers en route to 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball. Anderson was equally effective, mixing and matching his way to 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball.

“He did a tremendous job of changing speeds and keeping those guys off-kilter,” Angels manager Ron Washington said about Anderson's outing.

It has been quite the turnaround for Anderson in his second year with the Angels. The veteran lefty signed a three-year, $39 million deal following a career-best year with the Dodgers in 2022. Year 1 did not go as planned for Anderson, who posted a 5.43 ERA in 141 innings for the Angels last season.

After Monday, Anderson’s 2.37 ERA in 76 innings was the 13th-best mark among the 113 pitchers who have thrown at least 50 innings this season. His outing against San Diego was Anderson’s fourth straight of five-plus innings and one or fewer runs allowed, the longest streak of his career.

Anderson also had a big turnaround -- from a command perspective -- from his last outing, in which he tied a career-high with six walks against the Yankees.

“It was good to get a little deeper in the game than last time,” Anderson said. “Not a lot of swing and miss [tonight]. But when they did swing, they were hit right at our guys.”

Anderson is succeeding in unconventional fashion in today’s context. He’s not striking tons of batters out (16.3% strikeout rate) and is walking his fair share of batters (10.5%).

What he is doing -- something he’s always excelled at -- is getting hitters to chase out of the zone and generating weak contact. Anderson entered his outing with a 74th percentile chase rate and 82nd percentile average exit velocity allowed, per Statcast. Interestingly, those numbers are down from years past, but still speak to Anderson’s skills as a pitcher.

Also helping Anderson on Monday were a handful of excellent defensive plays, especially fundamental plays involving multiple players.

On two occasions, left fielder Taylor Ward and shortstop Zach Neto paired up on relay throws to record huge outs on the bases. In the second inning, Ha-Seong Kim tried extending a double into a triple but was thrown out on a perfectly executed relay from Ward and Neto.

In the sixth inning of a tie game, Jurickson Profar tried scoring on a double by Fernando Tatis Jr. Once again, Ward and Neto delivered a superb relay throw to prevent Profar from scoring. Neto himself also had another great play deep in the hole between shortstop and third base, throwing out Kim at first base.

"It was certainly a fundamentally sound game -- the relays, the executions of relays, making plays and just playing solid defense,” Washington said. “Well executed. Couldn't have drawn it up any better."

Given the Angels’ current circumstances, it’s likely that Anderson could be viewed as a potential trade candidate in the coming months. He is under contractual control through next season (owed $13 million this and next year) and could be a sought-out veteran pitcher during the stretch run of the season.