Can a GameObject moved through animation have momentum for collision calculations?

I'm very new to unity so apologies if I'm asking stupid questions. I'm trying to build a pinball machine as a basic first project.

The ball is moving around the case and bouncing off of objects as it should - I've created and applied a couple of Physic Materials to get the bounciness right, this all works fine. I also have a 'flipper' which has an up and a down animation triggered by a key press. It moves and the ball collides with it as it should.

However, when the flipper is 'in motion' and hits the ball it doesn't impart any momentum to it. The ball can never be hit away from the flipper, just lifted by it, which is obviously not much use.

Am I approaching this fundamentally wrong? Do animations not cross over with physic engine at all or is there some setting I've missed so that the flippers momentum when moving can be imparted to the ball when they collide and the former is moving upwards?

Any advice greatly appreciated.