MILWAUKEE -- Colorado Rockies left-hander Tyler Anderson, who struggled in August before finishing the season with three quality starts, will get the ball in Game 2 of the NLDS against the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday afternoon, the team announced.
"It's a great honor," Anderson said Thursday. "I'm excited. My whole life I've wanted to be a big league pitcher. And then on top of that, when you get to the big leagues, you want to win a World Series. That is your dream. You go in the backyard, as a kid, you're not dreaming of pitching a game in May at home."
Colorado dropped Game 1 of the best-of-5 series 3-2 in 10 innings Thursday night.
The Brewers were 24-19 against left-handed starters this season, but only 16-17 before rosters expanded Sept. 1. Now both teams are back to using 25 men.
"As it relates to the Brewers, we saw some of the numbers. On any given day, anything can happen, but I think it's more about how we feel about our pitcher and not so much about the opposition," Rockies manager Bud Black said. "I think with Tyler, he's been one of our guys, even though you look at... he had a tough August, but he had a really good June and July, and he's been one of the mainstays in our rotation."
Jhoulys Chacin will start Game 2 for the Brewers, whose lineup won't include lefty Eric Thames, who was left off the team's NLDS roster along with pitching mainstays Chase Anderson and Zach Davies.
"It came down to, as much as anything, Domingo [Santana] has just played so well over the course of this month and done this job so well," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said of the Thames decision. "That ended up being the bigger factor."
The Rockies chose to leave Opening Day starter Jon Gray off the playoff roster as he's struggled in September, compiling a 7.20 ERA.
"With Jon, we decided on [Antonio] Senzatela today, Tyler tomorrow, and then whatever order with Kyle [Freeland] and German [Marquez]," Black said. "And we felt as though these were the four guys that we were going to pitch in this series."