Anderson grinds through 5 scoreless frames to keep Angels in it

HOUSTON -- Tyler Anderson has pitched effectively throughout the season, typically giving the Angels at least five innings while keeping things close.

The left-hander continued that Friday, scattering five hits with three walks in five scoreless innings in the team’s 2-0 loss to the Astros at Daikin Park.

“I feel like I had a little momentum after my last start against the Cubs,” Anderson said. “I figured out some stuff to kind of help me make better pitches, and it carried over into today, which I am thankful for. Stay on that track.”

Anderson, who was activated from the paternity list on Thursday, had his fourth scoreless start this season and second against the Astros after allowing one hit in 5 2/3 innings in Houston on April 12.

“I thought it was great,” Angels interim manager Ray Montgomery said. “Given the fact that he had to go home, obviously, celebrating the birth of his child and then to come back, with the travel and all that stuff, it puts a lot on you. So, to give us what he did, he grinded through the fifth inning there and really put us in a good position to win the game.”

Anderson relied mostly on a three-pitch mix. He threw 38 changeups, 28 four-seam fastballs, 19 cutters and one slider in his 86 pitches. That was a bit of a change from his pitch selection entering the game, which was more fastball (38.4% of the time) than changeup (33.6%).

He had his most success with the changeup, getting seven whiffs out of 21 swings. He had nine whiffs total out of 43 swings.

“I feel like a little adjustment I made in my delivery in my last start made it seem like guys are having a hard time picking it up,” Anderson said of the changeup. “I can land it more consistently.”

The southpaw worked through traffic in every inning, but he was able to grind through five innings, which he was pleased with.

With the bases loaded and nobody out in the fourth, he escaped by getting Yainer Diaz to ground into a double play, with Yoán Moncada stepping on third for the first out and throwing a dart to Logan O’Hoppe at the plate to apply the tag on Carlos Correa for the second out. Anderson struck out Cam Smith to end the inning.

“With a lot of traffic there in the fourth and fifth, I just kept trying to make good pitches and give us a chance,” Anderson said. “Obviously, [Astros starter Cristian Javier] threw really well on the other side tonight, and offensively, we had a tough night, but they did a great job pitching. I was just trying to give us a chance to stay in the game.”

Offensively, the Angels struggled to figure out Javier, who threw six hitless innings with six strikeouts.

“Listen, you have to give credit. He did his job,” Montgomery said. “Our guys were battling. We didn’t get the results we were looking for, but T.A. kept us right there. He kept us in the game. We were in the seventh inning scoreless. We had a chance to potentially put the game away right there.”

The Angels had chances in both the seventh and eighth innings.

Moncada broke up the Astros’ no-hit bid with a double to lead off the seventh and advanced to third on Jo Adell’s single, but Enyel De Los Santos induced a shallow flyout from Logan O’Hoppe before striking out Christian Moore, and Niko Kavadas had his drive to the right-field wall caught by Cam Smith.

In the eighth inning, the Angels had the bases loaded with two outs, but Adell flied out to center off Kaleb Ort.

“With what T.A. had done to get us to that point, to have the opportunity first and third with nobody out, and we have a couple [at-bats] coming behind there that you’d hoped would be a better quality,” Montgomery said of the seventh inning. “Obviously, we didn’t get there. We started putting pressure on them, and Niko smoked that ball to right, but obviously, with two outs, it’s different than if we’d done that with nobody out.”