Detmers collects dozen strikeouts in win over Boston

ANAHEIM -- With his elite stuff and flashes of his potential in his first four years in the Majors, Angels lefty Reid Detmers was regarded as a top breakout candidate this season.

And through two outings, Detmers hasn’t disappointed. He is off to an impressive start, tying a career-high 12 strikeouts over six strong innings in a 2-1 win over the Red Sox on Saturday. The 24-year-old improved to 2-0 with a 1.64 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 11 innings. But he knows it’s still early in the season and has plenty to prove over the course of a long year.

“The first two starts have been pretty good but you just got to keep it going and keep your confidence high,” Detmers said. “Obviously there's gonna be ups and downs but I came into this year just telling myself, ‘There's always the next one.’ Making about 32 starts, it’s about on to the next one and that’s my mindset this year.”

Detmers, the No. 10 overall selection in the 2020 Draft, has displayed his immense ability in the past, such as his no-hitter against the Rays during his rookie year in 2022 but is coming off a down season that saw him post a 4.48 ERA in 28 starts and 148 2/3 innings in 2023.

Detmers, though, has worked to establish his fastball command and get ahead of hitters more often. His fastball, which averaged 93.7 mph and reached as high as 96 mph against the Red Sox, registered 11 whiffs, the second-highest total in his career -- behind the 12 he induced against the Orioles on Sunday.

“I’ve just been setting up guys the way I want,” Detmers said. “The fastball has been playing really good off the offspeed stuff. And the tunneling has been pretty good.”

He had all of his stuff working on Saturday and racked up 21 swings and misses, including four with his changeup, four with his slider and two with his curve. It helped him reach double digits in strikeouts for the fourth time in his career while tying his career high of 12 punchouts set against the Twins on May 19, 2023, and the Rangers on July 31, 2022.

“He was moving his fastball around, threw some changeups, threw some breaking balls and used his whole arsenal out there,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “He did a tremendous job. The thing I like about him is his poise. He’s as poised as they get and his confidence is sky-high.”

Detmers is also working with a new pitch grip on his changeup modeled after his teammate Chase Silseth’s split-change. He threw it 13 times against Boston to keep them off-balance, while also varying the speeds and shapes of his breaking pitches.

“I picked it up at the end of last year,” Detmer said. “It’s Silseth’s grip but it doesn’t have the same movement. But for me, it fits my arsenal a little bit better with the way it moves right now.”

Offensively, Detmers didn’t get any run support until he had already exited the game. With two outs in the sixth inning, the Angels loaded the bases for Anthony Rendon, who has been off to a slow start offensively in the early going. Rendon hit a potential inning-ending grounder to Rafael Devers, but the third baseman booted it for an error that brought home two runs, paving the way for Detmers' second win as he surrendered one run on three hits and a walk.

“We kept putting the pressure on and then we broke through and that's what it's about,” Washington said. “Rendon hit a ground ball down the third base, had a lot of topspin on it and it got away. And that's all we needed to do to finish it off.”

As Washington alluded, the bullpen did the rest after Detmers departed as relievers Adam Cimber, Matt Moore and closer Carlos Estévez each threw a scoreless innings to seal the win. Moore was helped by superstar Mike Trout, who made a leaping catch at the wall in center field to rob Jarren Duran of extra bases to end the eighth. It set the stage for a 1-2-3 ninth from Estévez, who picked up his third save in three chances this year.

“It was a game-saver,” Washington said of Trout’s catch. “Every play out there we made tonight, we needed because it was a 2-1 ballgame. But we played great defense.”