ANAHEIM, Calif. — After Monday night’s win over the Dodgers, Angels interim manager Ray Montgomery told reporters that right-hander Víctor Mederos will start in Tuesday night’s game instead of Tyler Anderson.
The reason for the last-minute change is that Anderson is dealing with back stiffness.
It’s something that Anderson said he’s been dealing with all season long. But after his latest start, it flared up more than usual.
“I feel okay right now,” Anderson said. “I just feel like I've been dealing with it all year. Just on and off, mostly on, but good enough to pitch most days.”
Anderson noted that it is his lower back that is locking up.
He threw a bullpen on Sunday and felt fine, and will likely throw another bullpen tomorrow and see how he feels. The plan is for Anderson to pitch on Saturday in Sacramento.
“The team just thought it was maybe a good idea to give it a few extra days and see if we can not have to battle the rest of the time,” Anderson said. “Maybe a couple extra days for us would help it settle down and hopefully stay that way.”
This season has not gone Anderson’s way, who owns a 4.63 ERA in 23 starts this year and hasn’t earned a win in his last 19 starts. The back stiffness could be a factor in his struggles this year.
“Sometimes I feel like it's just hard, maybe finishing pitches, getting over the top,” Anderson said. “But when I've been pitching in the games, I kind of get numb. You don't really feel anything out there, but it's definitely made it harder to prep some of the days in between. So if there's a carryover to that, I don't know.”
CHRISTIAN MOORE ROTATING IN THE LINEUP
With Christian Moore not in the lineup for Tuesday night’s game, that will make it three out of the last four games the Angels have not started their top prospect. This comes after he returned from a thumb injury and started the first five games back.
When Moore returned from injury, Montgomery said he would rotate Moore in and out of the lineup.
On Tuesday, Montgomery made the point that Moore could get nights off if he’s working through adjustments and depending on matchups as well.
“Coming back from an injury, too, like you want to give guys time to come back, get their timing in and out of the lineup, too,” Montgomery said. “That's probably a little bit of it, too.”