Rockies' Anderson faces Diamondbacks after woeful April (May 06, 2017)
DENVER -- Colorado Rockies left-hander Tyler Anderson will try to move forward after a forgettable April when he starts Saturday against the Arizona Diamonbacks.
Left-hander Patrick Corbin will start for the Diamonbacks. He's 5-2 with a 4.59 ERA in 14 games (13 starts) against the Rockies.
Corbin faced the Rockies in his last start on Sunday. He wasn't involved in the decision but pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings in a game the Diamondbacks won 2-0 in 13 innings.
Anderson failed to pitch six innings in any of his first six starts and has allowed nine homers in 30 1/3 innings after surrendering 12 homers in 114 1/3 innings as a rookie last year.
Anderson is 0-0 with a 7.80 ERA in three career starts against the Diamondbacks. He faced them in his last outing on April 29 and gave up seven hits and a career-high six earned runs in five innngs at Chase Field, but the Rockies rallied to win 7-6.
Anderson was scheduled to start Friday, but the Rockies pushed him back one day so he didn't follow left-hander Kyle Freeland in the rotation and to give Anderson additional time between starts to find his footing.
"From a mechanics standpoint, I like where he's at, so we're not trying to do too much," Rockies pitching coach Steve Foster said. "It's more about locating pitches, commanding the baseball and pitch selection. Those are the things to me he has to get better on in order to get hitters in the defensive position.
"He's too often in hitters' counts and a lot of that is the command. Some of its pitch selection, when to throw what to throw."
Foster said early in the season, a few mechanical issues were addressed, namely having Anderson stay taller and separate his hands over the rubber.
Anderson doesn't throw hard, but he is able to complement an 88-92 mph fastball with good off-speed pitches. He used that arensal to get a slew of soft contact last year, but not so much this season.
"When gets into better counts, he will get soft contact like last year," Foster said.
Coming off a 93-loss season, the much-improved Diamondbacks are 18-13 this year. They moved within a half game of the Rockies in the National League West after beating them 6-3 on Friday.
A reason the Diamondbacks are better this year is that center fielder A.J. Pollock is healthy. The Arizona leadoff hitter fractured his right elbow last April 2 in a Cactus League game and didn't make his 2016 debut until Aug. 26. He played 12 games but suffered a season-ending groin injury on Sept. 9.
Pollock, who led off Friday's game with a triple and scored, doubled in his next at-bat and scored on Paul Goldschmidt's three-run homer, is hitting .309 (28-for-123) in 29 games with 11 doubles, two triples, two homers, eight RBIs and 22 runs.
Pollock has a .351 on-base percentage and a .480 slugging percentage. He also has a team-leading 11 stolen bases in 13 attempts.
Pollock was an All-Star in 2015 when he hit .315 with 111 runs scored, 192 hits, 39 doubles, six triples, 20 homers, 76 RBIs and 39 steals in 46 attempts. He also won his first Gold Glove. He is bringing that same two-dimensional strength to the Diamondbacks this season.
"This is a huge outfield where he plays extremely aggressive," Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said of Coors Field. "He's very comfortable in center field and kind of anchors us defensively.
"He's been an offensive catalyst for us. He sets the tone in a lot of different ways. He puts pressure on the pitcher during the at-bat. And once he gets on base, he's able to steal bases with consistency. So I think he attacks the game in a lot of different ways and enables us to score runs and be successful."
