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Brett Anderson has it rolling in Dodgers’ 4-2 win over Diamondbacks

Dodgers pitcher Brett Anderson, working against the Giants in his first spring training game, had another strong spring outing Monday against the Diamondbacks.

Dodgers pitcher Brett Anderson, working against the Giants in his first spring training game, had another strong spring outing Monday against the Diamondbacks.

(Ben Margot / Associated Press)
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No one has ever doubted that Brett Anderson could be a helluva pitcher. It’s just that the notion comes with a qualifier -- if he could just stay healthy.

He’s had a series of injuries, some of the freakish variety, but when he’s healthy and on, he’s someone you want on your side.

The Dodgers saw six innings of pretty much classic Anderson on Monday in Scottsdale, Ariz., during their 4-2 victory over the Diamondbacks.

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The left-hander threw six scoreless innings, most coming via his specialty -- the groundout. The Diamondbacks couldn’t manage one fly against him. He induced 12 groundouts without recording one out beyond the infield. He allowed four hits -- also ground balls -- walked one, struck out two and saw the Dodgers turn four double plays behind him. He wrapped it up in just 74 pitches.

It was his best overall outing of the spring and it left him 2-0 in the exhibition season with a 2.13 ERA.

Mike Adams followed and did little to help his case for making the team. In his one inning, he gave up two runs on three hits. His ERA rose to 9.64.

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The rest of the relievers continued to pitch well, however. Adam Liberatore pitched a perfect two-thirds of an inning and is now unscored upon in nine appearances. Pedro Baez got the final out in the eighth via a strikeout and then Paco Rodriguez threw a perfect ninth to earn the save. He struck out two. He hasn’t given up a run in his nine spring appearances, either.

Offensively, the Dodgers were not the juggernaut of recent days, but scored their four runs on nine hits. Enrique Hernandez, after a slow start this spring, continued his surge with two hits in as many at-bats. Jimmy Rollins and A.J. Ellis had doubles, and Carl Crawford a triple.

There were no beanball shenanigans like in the teams’ meeting last week, even though Anderson and Adams each hit a batter.

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