Tyler Anderson gets no help as Angels bullpen falters against Rangers

ARLINGTON, Texas — Tyler Anderson has been one of the few consistent bright spots for the Los Angeles Angels in 2024, and he shined again Saturday night at Globe Life Field.

But just as his record indicates, he did not receive a whole lot of help.

Instead of celebrating his 11th win, the Angels were left with a 6-4 loss after the Texas Rangers rallied to score three runs in the seventh.

Anderson, the Angels’ lone All-Star, held the Rangers to two runs over five innings but was replaced to start the sixth after throwing 92 pitches. He left with a 4-2 lead and in line to improve to 11-12.

Instead, the Rangers rallied with two outs and the bases empty against Victor Mederos, who replaced Hunter Strickland after Strickland threw a scoreless sixth.

Mederos recorded two quick outs but walked Ezequiel Duran and Carson Kelly ahead of Rangers leadoff hitter Marcus Semien. Mederos’ Ball 4 to Duran came on a pitch clock violation. Semien ripped a 1-0 fastball to center to score the first run and Josh Smith’s single to right scored two more to give Texas the lead. The Rangers added a run in the eighth on Wyatt Langford’s double against Roansy Contreras.

“I don’t think [Mederos] got distracted,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “The main thing is, he just couldn’t throw enough strikes, and then when he did throw a strike, they didn’t miss it.”

Taylor Ward, whose 14-game hit streak was snapped Thursday night, led off the game with his 22nd home run of the season. The Angels added another run in the first on Anthony Rendon’s sacrifice fly to right, after Zach Neto was hit by a pitch, stole second, and moved to third on a wild pitch.

The Rangers tied it with two runs in the fifth, which was set up, in part, on Rendon’s fielding error against the leadoff hitter. Anderson walked the next batter before striking out Jonah Heim. Ezequiel Duran ripped a two-run double to center before Anderson got a strikeout and flyout to end the inning. Anderson struck out seven and surrendered only the double to Duran. It was a 29-pitch inning for Anderson, who agreed that it was a smart move to go to the bullpen for the sixth.

“It all started when we didn’t catch that one ground ball, and then [Anderson] sort of lost it a little bit,” Washington said. “But, he put it back together and he left with a tie ballgame. I’d take that any time after five. And then we came back and took the lead, but then we couldn’t hold on to it.”

The Angels, indeed, reclaimed the lead with two runs in the sixth after Neto led off with a walk, to chase Rangers rookie starter Jack Leiter. Left-hander Andrew Chafin replaced him and his wild pitch on ball four to Nolan Schanuel bounced in front of catcher Jonah Heim and ricocheted sharply towards the Texas dugout. Neto was already rounding third base and noticed Chafin hadn’t started toward home. Neto raced down the line and slid safely ahead of Heim’s throw, which sailed past Chafin, allowing Schanuel to move up to second base. He later scored on Mickey Moniak’s single to right.

“It just happened at the wrong time,” Washington said of Rendon’s error, one of two in the game for the Angels. “We’ve been playing solid defense. That just happened at the wrong time, but that’s baseball.”

Washington said the busy fifth for the left-hander Anderson, plus the long top of the sixth when the Angels scored twice, was enough reason to turn to his bullpen.

“He had a pretty good workload right there in that fifth inning. He might’ve been doing a pretty good job, but they were working him pretty good, too,” Washington said. “He was done. The rest of those guys have to come in and do their job.”

Anderson will have several more opportunities to earn his 11th win, which would be a club-high since Shohei Ohtani won 15 games in 2022. The last Angels left-hander to win 11 or more games was C.J. Wilson, who won 13 in 2014.

“I still felt pretty good in the fifth. But my command wasn’t great, there were some mistakes, and just some non-competitive misses that get you into deep counts,” said Anderson, who threw a season-high 109 pitches in five innings on June 25. “I probably could have [pitched the sixth], but I feel like in that situation it probably didn’t make a lot of sense to go out there after 92 and throwing 30-something [pitches] the inning before. Obviously, it’s later in the year. That was probably the right call.”