Tyler Anderson was the star of the show on Monday night as the Los Angeles Angels took down the Tampa Bay Rays with ease in a 7-1 victory. The Angels moved to 6-4 on the season with the win and are hoping to secure a series victory on Tuesday night. But that effort would not have been nearly as simple without Anderson’s dominant work once again. He tossed seven scoreless innings with four hits, one walk and three strikeouts.
That start matches nearly exactly what he did against the Miami Marlins in his first start of the season, when he went seven scoreless with four hits, two walks and five strikeouts. With another seven scoreless innings, Anderson became the first pitcher in Angels franchise history to begin a season with consecutive starts of seven or more innings with no runs allowed.
His work landed him a standing ovation from Angels fans on Monday night, who are happy to see the bounce-back start from their 2023 marquee free agent signing, according to Jeff Fletcher of The O.C. Register:
“That was great,” Anderson said. “We have a lot of great fans. I feel like last year I didn’t pitch well for them. So to start off the year this way when people are here always feels good.”
Anderson echoed a similar sentiment to what he feels helped him in his first start, namely avoiding getting too bogged down in his thoughts.
“I think really just trying to go pitch to pitch, and not try to think too much,” Anderson said. “Just just try to execute as many as you can. And then really our defense has been great the last two for me, which is huge. I don’t get a lot of strikeouts. Our positioning has been really good. A lot of things that we’ve talked about. Guys have made really good adjustments, our staff’s made great adjustments. Having guys in the right spot at the right time is huge.”
The Angels are finally getting what they were hoping for out of Anderson when they signed him to a three-year, $39 million deal last offseason. In fact, so far, they are getting more than they could have dreamed of. He has been undoubtedly the best Angels starter through two cycles of the rotation, and is hoping to continue this strong start when he takes the mound next.
Reid Detmers strikes out 12 for Angels
Reid Detmers’ 2024 season is off to a strong start as well. Through two starts, he has allowed two runs on five hits and four walks with 19 strikeouts in 11 innings of work. His 15.5 strikeouts per nine innings is currently the best in all of baseball. It was boosted by a 12-strikeout performance on Saturday night against the Boston Red Sox, giving the Angels six innings of one-run ball, which was exactly what the offense needed in a narrow 2-1 victory.
The Angels certainly knew Detmers had this potential when they drafted him No. 10 overall in 2021. By 2022, he had thrown a no-hitter, and although he had a down 2023 campaign, he was still seen as a cornerstone of the rotation at just 24 years old. His first two starts have backed that faith, but he knows he still has more work to do.
