Detmers fans 9 in Triple-A debut

Triple-A, meet Reid Detmers.

In his Triple-A debut for the Salt Lake Bees, Detmers, the No. 10 overall pick of the 2020 Draft, pitched like he's been there before. MLB Pipeline's No. 57 prospect struck out nine batters over six scoreless innings in Salt Lake's 6-0 shutout of Las Vegas, bringing his season strikeout total to a whopping 106, second to only the RailRiders' Glenn Otto for the most in the Minors.

"I felt good. I was a little anxious getting out there at first, but I felt like everything was working," Detmers said. "Obviously, offspeed stuff was a little shaky at times, but it was there when I needed it, and that was the main thing. Just getting those quick outs and executing the pitches when I had to."

The Salt Lake clubhouse wasn't necessarily an unfamiliar place for Detmers. He met a lot of players in Spring Training, and that amicable environment helped calm his nerves for what was a very big night.

"It was nice, actually," Detmers said. "It was a lot of familiar faces, which helped out a lot. I wasn't going into a clubhouse with a bunch of guys I didn't know. It calmed me down a little bit, but at the same time, I didn't really know what to expect."

The Las Vegas batters didn't know what to expect, either. Not right away. Detmers nearly started his night in an immaculate way -- namely, striking out the side on 10 pitches in his first inning of Triple-A work -- but he still had the whole game ahead of him. After inducing a two-pitch groundout to start the second, Detmers faced his only real threat of the night as he gave up back-to-back singles to put two men on with one out. He came back from a 3-1 count to strike out Greg Deichmann before getting Pete Kozma to fly out on a 3-2 count. He followed up by striking out two in the third.

"It's hard at times [to adjust mid-game], but you just try to make the adjustment as soon as possible, whether it's following through a little bit more or getting on top of the ball a little bit more," Detmers said. "You can usually feel it when you're on the mound, or you can tell by where the ball's going."

To start the fourth, the southpaw hit a batsman, and a wild pitch moved him to second after he struck out Francisco Pena on three pitches. He ultimately finished the inning unscathed, inducing a popup and fanning his eighth batter to escape the jam. His last test was a one-out double in the fifth, but as fate would have it, he struck out the next batter on four pitches and got Nate Mondou to line out.

Detmers capped off his outing quietly with three flyouts in a nine-pitch sixth inning.

"It just goes back to executing pitches when I had to. I was just locking in a little bit more," Detmers said. "After that first inning, I calmed down a lot. I wasn't as shaky the rest of the game, but I knew I couldn't let up. I still had to go out there and execute my pitches... especially in the counts when I had to fight back. That was a key part of my outing."

It's just the second scoreless start for Detmers this year and the fourth time he's worked six innings in a game. He threw 63 of his 91 pitches for strikes, marking the third time in 13 starts that the Louisville product didn't issue a free pass.

If you can believe it, nine strikeouts isn't even close to Detmers' career-high -- he fanned 16 batters as a member of the Rocket City Trash Pandas on June 26 on the heels of fanning 14 the start before. The lefty had a bit of a slow start to his first Minor League season, but he's pitching to a 1.42 ERA in July with four walks, 12 hits (two home runs) and 30 strikeouts in 19 innings. And, of course, he's got a 0.00 ERA in Triple-A.

"I'm not trying to go out there and strike guys out all the time. Obviously I want those quick, easy outs to stay in the game longer," said Detmers, whose six innings tied a season-high. "Just attack the zone, that's all I can really say. Attack the zone and good things will happen."