ANAHEIM, Calif. — Reid Detmers’ encouraging second half hit a snag on Friday night.
The Los Angeles Angels’ rookie left-hander had been one of the team’s most pleasant stories since rediscovering his slider two months ago, but he struggled through a rough outing in a 4-2 loss to the Houston Astros.
Detmers, 23, came into the game with a 3.47 ERA and a no-hitter on his resume in 2022. He had a 1.97 ERA in his previous eight starts, since his one-start return to Triple-A.
Detmers was charged with four runs — equaling the most he’d allowed in any game in the past two months — in 4 1/3 innings Friday. Two of the runs scored after he was out of the game.
Detmers had little trouble with the Astros in the first two innings, but the story changed after that.
In the third, Chas McCormick turned on a fastball over the inside corner and lined it into left field for a double, with the ball falling just out of the reach of Ryan Aguilar. After a strikeout, José Altuve hit a ball that bounced off third base and popped into the air, going for a single.
Jeremy Peña smacked a changeup at his shins off the left field fence, for a run-scoring double. Alex Bregman hit a fly ball to center, driving in another run.
In the fourth, Detmers worked in and out of a jam, stranding runners at the corners with a popout and two strikeouts. He couldn’t get out of the fifth, though. After two walks and a single loaded the bases, Detmers was done for the night.
José Marte proceeded to issue a pair of bases-loaded walks, pushing home two more runs that were charged to Detmers.
The Angels’ hitters couldn’t do enough to take Detmers off the hook for a loss, even though they had ample opportunities against Lance McCullers Jr.
The Angels stranded two in the first, left the bases loaded in the third and left two on in the fifth.
In the sixth, they finally got on the board. Taylor Ward singled, Mike Ford walked and Matt Duffy drove a double into left-center, knocking in one. A Matt Thaiss sacrifice fly drove in another to cut the deficit to 4-2.
The Angels put the tying run on base with a single and a walk in the seventh, but Ford took a called third strike to strand them.
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