Pretty much everyone in the Angels pen besides Anderson was burnt out coming into this one — and even Anderson, who threw 11 pitches Tuesday, was going back-to-back days — but the team decided against calling up anyone. Anderson took over with a 5-3 lead in the seventh and blew the lead then. Even so, he was left in with the score tied to open the eighth. All three batters then reached against him, two of them while trying to sac bunt. Brock Burke, working for the third time in four days, took over and allowed the three runners to score before giving up four runs of his own. The Angels then used Reid Detmers, who has never been a reliever before and threw 40 pitches Monday, to finish the game off. It’s really pretty disgusting that the Angels didn’t protect their guys by bringing up a fresh arm, but they hoped to get away with it in advance of having Thursday off.

That seems like the right call. Washington still wouldn’t confirm whether Reid Detmers or Jack Kochanowicz would open up as the fifth starter.

The move came after Anderson pitched three scoreless innings for the Braves today. That gave him a 2.25 ERA in 20 innings this spring. The problem is that he walked 20 and struck out just 10 along the way. One imagines the Angels will put him in middle relief for now, though he is stretched out sufficiently to be a candidate for the back of the rotation. Anderson is out of options, so he will be on the roster. We don’t have high expectations, but at this price, it was definitely worth a try for the Angels.