Tourists' Anderson tosses first shutout

Charleston, S.C., is a noted tourist destination. For one Tourist, it's a particularly inviting place to work and play.

Left-hander Tyler Anderson notched his first career shutout Sunday afternoon, holding the host RiverDogs to three hits over seven frames as Class A Asheville won the opening game of a doubleheader, 9-0.

Anderson, the 20th overall pick in the 2011 Draft, also threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings at Charleston's Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park back on July 10.

"My pitches were nothing electric today, but I was able to throw them all for strikes," Anderson said. "A lot of these guys are aggressive hitters, so it was important for me to get ahead in the count.

"I was able to get a lot of ground balls and the defense made some great plays behind me."

Due to rain and the six-man rotation the Tourists are currently using, Anderson had not pitched in seven days, but the 22-year-old Oregon product didn't show any signs of rust while facing one over the minimum through five innings.

The second Charleston batter of the game, Ali Castillo, reached on a fielding error by Asheville third baseman Samuel Mende, but Anderson got the RiverDogs' Dante Bichette to ground into a double play to end the inning.

Anderson worked around Kelvin De Leon's right-field double in the third and Cito Culver's single in the sixth before Bichette opened the seventh with a double to left.

Robert Refsnyder grounded out to short to end the game. Anderson needed 81 pitches -- 58 of which went for strikes -- over the seven innings. He struck out three and did not walk a batter.

It was Anderson's fourth victory in as many decisions and pushed his record to 9-2. Because the southpaw did not make his pro debut until May 11, he's on the borderline of being eligible for the South Atlantic League ERA crown with 90 1/3 innings, but his 2.49 mark would lead the circuit. Anderson is already MLB.com's No. 3 Rockies prospect after 14 pro appearances.

"I try not to have expectations about where I should be or anything," he said. "I'm concentrating on just improving all year long and making the adjustments to be better."

Four different Tourists had multiple hits and five collected at least one RBI in a balanced offensive attack. Taylor Featherston led the way with three singles and a pair of RBIs while Trevor Story contributed a solo homer, his 14th of the season, and a double.

Between Anderson's performance and his offense pounding out nine runs on 12 hits, Asheville manager Joe Mikulik was avoided a reprise of his epic ejection in Friday night's game.

Charleston starter Philip Wetherell fell to 4-5 after yielding four runs on six hits and a pair of walks over three innings. He struck out six.

Asheville improved to 6-3 against the RiverDogs this season and pulled within three games of first-place Rome in the Sally League Southern Division second-half race. The Tourists won the first half by 4.5 games.