Reid Detmers will be back on the mound for the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night in Anaheim, Calif., to face the Texas Rangers, this time without as many eyes on him wondering what he might do for an encore.
Detmers threw a no-hitter on May 10 against the Tampa Bay Rays, but he followed that with a dud against the Rangers on May 17, lasting just 3 2/3 innings and giving up three runs on three hits and two walks.
“You have success one day and then the next day you don’t,” Detmers said. “That’s just how it is. You’ve got to learn from it. It’s just baseball.”
Angels manager Joe Maddon said it was evident early that Detmers simply wasn’t the same pitcher he was when he threw the no-hitter.
“He just wasn’t sharp,” Maddon said. “He wasn’t sharp at all. … It’s one of those things I say to myself, I tell (pitching coach Matt Wise), ‘It’s just not gonna work,’ and you’ve got to move it along.”
Detmers’ subpar performance may not have had anything to do with the pressure of following the no-hitter; it may have had more to do with the Rangers.
In two starts against Texas this season, Detmers has an ERA of 10.29. In five starts against the rest of the league, he has a 2.63 ERA.
Angels right fielder Taylor Ward was not in the starting lineup in Tuesday’s 5-3 win over the Rangers, still not ready to go after running face-first into the right-field wall while making a catch last Friday.
Ward had an MRI that showed no major damage, though he does have nerve irritation in his right shoulder, an injury that prevents him from throwing. He’s been cleared to hit, but Shohei Ohtani is the club’s designated hitter.
“The full strength isn’t back yet,” Ward said. “But I have enough to hold my positions hitting. Throwing, the concern is putting stress on the other areas of my arm. They don’t want to put any stress on those areas. So that’s why I can’t really start throwing yet. But the way things are progressing, it’s going slowly but it is improving, so we’re going to continue to take this day by day.”
Right-hander Glenn Otto (1-2, 5.55 ERA) will make his sixth start of the season for Texas, coming off a loss to the Astros his last time out even though he allowed just two runs in six innings.
He is 0-0 with a 9.45 ERA in two career starts vs. the Angels.
The Rangers entered the series against the Angels ranked ninth in the American League in runs scored but second in stolen bases.
Rangers manager Chris Woodward said the stolen base is a big part of his team’s offense, despite when things don’t go their way.
On Saturday against the Astros, Adolis Garcia was caught trying to steal third in the eighth inning of a one-run game. The Rangers lost 2-1.
“It’s something we preach every day,” Woodward said. “All day every day. It’s something we’ve done ever since I’ve been here. It’s probably one of my core philosophies of what I want our offense to look like.
“Games like (Saturday), it’s really, really important we wrap our arms around Adolis and say, ‘Hey.’ He even said right after, ‘OK, I’m never going to try that again.’ That’s his first reaction. No, that’s not it. We want you to do that. One hundred percent.”
–Field Level Media
