'Not fun to go through': Detmers' difficult stretch continues

ANAHEIM -- After displaying several glimpses of his potential during a solid rookie season in 2022 that saw him throw a no-hitter and finish with a strong second half, the Angels were counting on big things from lefty Reid Detmers this season.

It’s been a rollercoaster of a year for Detmers, who struggled early in the season, only to appear to be turning things around with a strong June. He has fallen into another rut, and was hit hard in a 9-7 loss to the Mariners on Friday night at Angel Stadium. He went four innings and tied a career high by allowing seven runs, which was previously set just four starts ago against the Dodgers on July 8.

Detmers, 24, has posted an 8.61 ERA over his last five outings and fell to 2-9 with a 4.78 ERA in 20 starts this year. He had a 3.77 ERA in 25 starts as a rookie, including a 3.04 ERA over his last 13 starts, but hasn’t been able to build on that.

“It’s not good,” Detmers said. “The line says it all. I just need to be better. I’m going through a little situation right now that’s not fun to go through. The last couple starts have been tough, but I have to work my way through it.”

His short outing came with the bullpen already depleted after two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani also lasted just four innings on Thursday before being removed with cramping in his right middle finger. And it was a second straight loss to the Mariners, who are now 2 1/2 games ahead of the Angels (56-55) in the AL Wild Card chase. They Halos trail the Blue Jays by five games for the third and final Wild Card spot, having lost four in a row and six of eight.

Relievers Jacob Webb, Dominic Leone, Matt Moore, Reynaldo López and Aaron Loup each threw an inning to help pick up the slack. But López gave up the go-ahead run in the eighth on an RBI single to Eugenio Suárez before Loup gave up a solo shot to Cal Raleigh for an insurance run in the eighth.

The Angels don’t have an off-day again until Thursday, so they’re likely to need to bring up a fresh reliever on Saturday because of the short outing by Detmers. Angels manager Phil Nevin didn’t rule out optioning Detmers to the Minors to get him back on track.

“He’s been in a little bit of a funk right now,” Nevin said. “The alarming thing for me was the velocity was a little down. With the bullpen situation, we were trying to get every out out of him. He’s going through a tough time. It’s a learning process and he’s really young, but he has too good of stuff to get hit like that.”

Detmers struggled from the start, giving up four runs in the first inning, keyed by a three-run homer from Ty France with two outs. He later served up a solo blast to Dylan Moore the second and a two-run shot to Julio Rodríguez in the fifth. It marked the second time this season he gave up three homers in a start, matching the three blasts he surrendered to the Dodgers on July 8.

“We’ve got to fix stuff, and this isn’t the time for guys to work through things,” Nevin said .”We have to fix things. We talk about urgency and there’s still everything right in front of us.”

The Angels, though, rallied offensively against Mariners ace Luis Castillo, erasing the early deficit with three homers of their own. Luis Rengifo hit a leadoff homer in the first and the Angels came back to tie it with four runs in the third. C.J. Cron brought home a run with an RBI single before Mike Moustakas connected on a game-tying three-run homer.

After Detmers gave up the lead again on Rodríguez’s homer in the fourth, the Angels tied it again in the fifth on a two-run shot from Mickey Moniak. But after López and Loup each gave up a run, the Angels couldn’t score in the ninth, despite putting two runners on with nobody out.

“It’s tough,” Detmers said. “We’ve added a bunch of new guys, which we were super excited about getting. We just haven’t played to our potential so far. I haven’t done my half. But that’s baseball. But we’ll get out of it and I’ll get out of it and we’ll move forward.”