HOUSTON — Tyler Anderson gave the Angels exactly what they needed.
The left-hander pitched eight innings in a 2-1 victory over the Houston Astros on Wednesday, leading them to a second consecutive series victory on this trip through Texas.
The bad news was that shortstop Zach Neto left the game with right elbow soreness. Neto made a high throw in the fifth inning and then left the game. There was no immediate word on how serious the injury might be.
Angels manager Ron Washington escorts Zach Neto off the field after the shortstop suffered a right elbow injury in the fifth inning against the Astros on Wednesday, May 22, 2024, at Minute Maid Park in Houston. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)
Kyren Paris, who moved over from second to short after Neto came out, had provided the Angels with their only offense to that point. Paris blasted a two-run homer – the first of his career – in the top of the inning.
Right-hander Luis Garcia, pitching for the fourth time in five days, got the call for the final inning, and he picked up the save.
Without much offense, and with a bullpen that had been taxed, the Angels needed as many quality innings as possible out of Anderson.
Anderson has pitched at least seven innings in five of his 10 starts, compiling a 2.52 ERA. He’s the first Angels pitcher this season to finish eight innings.
He needed just 95 pitches to maneuver the Astros’ dangerous lineup, striking out four and walking two.
Anderson gave up just one hit and one walk in 12 plate appearances against José Altuve, Kyle Tucker, Yordan Alvarez and Alex Bregman. The hit was an Alvarez double in the first inning that could have been caught by left fielder Taylor Ward.
In the eighth, just after Anderson walked Tucker to put the tying run on base, manager Ron Washington came to the mound to talk to Anderson, who then retired Alvarez and Bregman to escape the inning.
Anderson had more trouble with the bottom half of the order.
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In the fourth inning, No. 5 hitter Jeremy Peña hit a ball that was initially ruled to have cleared the left-field fence for a homer. On review, it was changed to a double.
An inning later, Anderson gave up his first run of the game on a Mauricio Dubon RBI double. The Angels defused that situation by throwing out Dubon trying to stretch it into a triple.
More to come on this story.