MILWAUKEE — If there’s a silver lining to be had in Colorado’s offensive no-show that resulted in a 4-0 loss to the Brewers in Game 2 of the National League division series, it’s the six innings of one-run ball that southpaw starter Tyler Anderson delivered.
Sure, Anderson was riding the wave of three straight quality starts coming in, including seven-plus shutout innings in a must-win game in the regular-season finale which clinched Colorado a spot in the NL West tiebreaker game.
But doubts still lingered regarding Anderson’s readiness for the Rocktober spotlight.
In his first career postseason start Friday, would Anderson continue to progress back toward being one of the most effective pitchers in the NL as he was during July? Or would Colorado be hamstrung by the uglier version of Anderson, the one who got hammered for six runs in a career-short ⅔-inning outing versus St. Louis on Aug. 26?
The southpaw was decidedly the former, as Milwaukee’s lone run came via Hernan Perez’s ground-rule RBI double in the fourth inning while Anderson was cool under pressure.
“My game is trying to hit spots and trying to execute,” Anderson said. “Now, it’s just on a bigger stage, with more people yelling, and a bigger crowd. It creates more adrenaline, so for me that can be a detriment. The focus was on making quality pitches.”
Besides Perez’s damage, Anderson worked around runners, stranding four, while consistently working up in the zone to induce strikeouts (five) and innocuous pop-ups (11).
“I do my best work when I’m in-and-out and up-and-down,” Anderson said. “(Milwaukee) is a team that likes the ball down — a lot of their guys like the ball down — so if we were going to go hard, going up is good, if not to get a swing-and-miss, but at least maybe some weak contact.”
Of course, Anderson’s late-season surge won’t mean a thing if Colorado can’t find the bats back in Colorado, starting with Game 3 on Sunday. German Marquez is slated to start that game and then Kyle Freeland for a potential Game 4 on Monday.
Should the Rockies win those, Antonio Senzatela and Anderson would be available to throw on full rest in Game 5. Senzatela, too, is coming off a polished showing in his postseason debut in Game 1. Neither of that will be any consolation if the Rockies can’t extend the series back to Milwaukee, but it’s certainly good to know the Rockies can firmly trust Anderson once again.
“We’ve got to get some wins, but I hope I can get the ball again,” Anderson said.
