Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Tyler Anderson will put his All-Star season back on display Friday when he faces the visiting San Francisco Giants.
Anderson did not pitch in Tuesday’s All-Star Game in his own ballpark, but otherwise had the full experience with his National League teammates. His first-All-Star Game nod came after a first half when he went 10-1 over 17 appearances (15 starts) with a 2.96 ERA.
Anderson didn’t even start the season in the Dodgers’ rotation but was made a regular starter when fellow left-hander Andrew Heaney went on the injured list early in April. His All-Star experience mirrored his season in that he was not named to the NL team initially but got the nod as an injury replacement.
Anderson had no guarantees on how much he would pitch on a talented Dodgers staff when he signed a one-year, $8 million free-agent deal in the offseason, but neither he nor the team would have it any other way now.
“For me, it really does just feel like I made a good decision to come here,” Anderson said. “I would have felt like that either way, but (the All-Star selection) just made it validation for that. Going into the offseason, there were options to go other places and maybe for more years, but instead (I took) a chance to come to this team and get on a winning team this year.”
Anderson is not only a former Giants pitcher, joining them for the 2020 season, he also has eight career starts against San Francisco, going 1-3 with a 4.40 ERA. That lone win came in 2018 when he was a member of the Colorado Rockies.
The teams opened their post-All-Star Game schedule Thursday in the opener of a four-game series. The Dodgers blew a 5-0 lead and trailed 6-5 before Trayce Thompson had an RBI double in the eighth to tie the game and Mookie Betts hit a three-run homer in the same inning.
It was not the start to the post-break schedule the Giants were looking for. After plenty of first-half struggles, the Giants were optimistic upon finishing the first half on a three-game winning streak and winning five of the last six games. San Francisco saw its three-game winning streak over Los Angeles come to an end Thursday.
The Giants will send right-hander Logan Webb (9-3, 2.83) to the mound Friday. The San Francisco leader in wins and innings pitched (117 2/3) will be facing the Dodgers for the first time this season. In six career starts against Los Angeles, he is 1-2 with a 3.64 ERA.
Webb helped the Giants to 57 victories at the All-Star break last season and a franchise-record 107 victories overall. This season, the Giants had 48 victories at the break and are now 13 1/2 games behind the Dodgers.
“I think last year one of the main things we did really well was making sure we won series,” Webb said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “I think if we go back to that thinking, take it series by series, we’ll be back to where we think we are as a baseball team.”
While the Giants are 3-0 against the Dodgers at home this season, they are now 0-3 at Los Angeles.
–Field Level Media
