ANAHEIM, Calif. — Reid Detmers’ encouraging second half hit a snag on Friday night.
The 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 on Friday. Two of the runs scored after he was out of the game.
“It was just one of those things,” Detmers said. “You feel good the whole time but something clicks and you just can’t get those outs. I don’t know. I don’t know how to explain it.”
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.
At that point, Manager Phil Nevin made the somewhat surprising decision to go with José Marte, who had made only one of six appearances in the majors this season in games that were within three runs. Nevin said it was a “fair question” to ask why he didn’t use someone else, but he pointed out that the bullpen was thin because he didn’t want to use Jimmy Herget or Andrew Wantz. He did have Wantz warm up briefly in the fifth when the Angels were threatening to cut into the 4-0 deficit.
Nevin said he thought Marte could get a ground ball or a strikeout, and also that it would be a good test for the 26-year-old. He did get two strikeouts, but he also walked two, both pushing home runs.
“He’s been throwing strikes and we’ve got to see what some of these guys do too, as well,” Nevin said. “We’re trying to win games and I thought that was my best chance to win the game right there in the fifth inning.”
That turned out to be the difference in the game. After the Astros took a 4-0 lead, Angels relievers Zack Weiss, Aaron Loup and Jaime Barria retired all 12 hitters they faced over the final four innings. For Weiss (who recorded four outs on 12 pitches), it was his first major league appearance in four years, after he had failed to retire any of the four hitters he faced in his debut, which was still his only big league appearance until Friday.
While the bullpen kept the Angels in the game, the hitters couldn’t do much, even though Astros starter Lance McCullers Jr. was also not sharp over his 5 2/3 innings.
“Lance probably would tell you he probably didn’t have his best stuff, falling behind guys and some walks,” Nevin said. “We just couldn’t get one across. A lot of that happened with two outs but we just didn’t get the big one.”
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 scoreboard. 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, as the Angels finished the night with one hit in nine at-bats with runners in scoring position. They didn’t have a baserunner in the eighth or ninth.
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