ANAHEIM ― Will the real Reid Detmers please stand up?
Wednesday marked Detmers’ second start since the signature moment of his career. After losing 7-2 to the Texas Rangers, that game must have felt like ancient history to the Angels and their former first-round draft pick.
Detmers allowed five runs in six innings and got little support from the Angels’ bullpen or lineup before the announced crowd of 22,950 at Angel Stadium.
Excluding his most recent home game before Wednesday, Detmers has a 5.79 ERA this season. To exclude that game – the May 10 contest against the Tampa Bay Rays – would be to forget the 12th no-hitter in franchise history, the only complete game no-hitter thrown in Major League Baseball this season.
Detmers has pitched twice since that night, both times against Texas. On May 17 in Arlington, he allowed three runs in 3-2/3 innings. Manager Joe Maddon gave Detmers a longer leash Wednesday, but it mattered little. While his changeup flourished at the edges of the strike zone, the left-hander struggled to locate his curveball.
Home runs by Mitch Garver and Kole Calhoun in the fourth inning turned a 1-1 tie into a 4-1 deficit. Calhoun, the longtime Angel, went 3 for 4 with a double and scored three runs. Detmers saw his ERA rise by half a run, from 4.15 to 4.65.
Struggling reliever Mike Mayers allowed two runs in two innings of relief. He allowed nine balls in play, five of which were hit 100 mph or harder.
That served as a mere exclamation mark. The Rangers (19-23) snapped a three-game losing streak and the Angels (27-18) snapped a three-game winning streak in a battle of the second- and third-place teams in the American League West.
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The Angels began the day leading the American League in runs scored, but they struggled mightily against right-hander Glenn Otto and three relievers. Mike Trout went 0 for 4 with four strikeouts, and Taylor Ward missed his fifth consecutive game with a neck stinger.
Shohei Ohtani led off the game with a walk, stole second base, and scored on an Anthony Rendon single. In the ninth inning, Jared Walsh singled and ultimately scored on a groundout by Luis Rengifo.
In between, the Angels’ lineup did little of note. The Rangers retired 11 consecutive hitters until Andrew Velazquez’s single in the eighth inning against left-hander Brock Burke.
“He’s still young and I don’t think he executed as well the next game as he did the no-hitter game,” Maddon said. “Knowing when to throw the breaking balls for strikes, and knowing when it should start as a strike and end as a ball – that’s when he’s got it all.”
More to come on this story.