Detmers missing his 'best stuff' in loss

DETROIT -- Angels rookie left-hander Reid Detmers had been rolling since his brief stint at Triple-A Salt Lake in late June.

Detmers headed into his start against the Tigers with a 1.50 ERA and 47 strikeouts in 36 innings over his past six outings but couldn’t keep that momentum going with a rough showing on Saturday. Detmers allowed four runs on a career-high 10 hits over 4 1/3 innings during a 4-3 loss at Comerica Park. Detmers, who fell to 4-4 with a 3.66 ERA in 19 starts this year, had not allowed more than six hits in any of his previous 23 career outings.

“I was just having a hard time settling in,” Detmers said. “The stuff wasn’t coming out great. I couldn’t get a feel for anything. That’s about it.”

He seemed primed for a strong outing, especially after fellow lefty Patrick Sandoval threw a shutout in a 1-0 win in the series opener on Friday. But Detmers didn’t have his best stuff, and it was evident early, especially during a tough second inning.

His fastball velocity was also down a tick, averaging 92 mph, more than one mph lower than his season average of 93.2 mph. Detmers said he feels fine physically and isn’t sure why it was down, but interim manager Phil Nevin believes the dip in velocity adversely affected his outing.

“He just couldn't get a feel for his pitches,” Nevin said. “The velocity drop was a little concerning, but he found it a couple times, and sometimes, you go out there and just don't have your best stuff. He relies on that hard fastball and that good slider. But it’s not alarming because the velocity on his slider and secondary pitches were the same.”

It started out innocently enough for Detmers, who was staked to an early lead with the Angels scoring in the first inning after a double from Shohei Ohtani and an RBI single from Luis Rengifo. He allowed a hit and a stolen base in the first inning but got out of the jam.

After the Angels scored again in the second on a solo homer to right-center from Andrew Velazquez, Detmers came back out for the second with a two-run lead. But Detmers couldn’t hold that lead, as he scuffled through an inning that saw him scatter five hits and walk two, including a walk with the bases loaded to tie the game.

He was helped by right fielder Taylor Ward, who threw out Jonathan Schoop at home as he tried to advance from second on a single from Tucker Barnhart. Detmers also escaped the inning by getting Javier Báez to pop out to first with the bases loaded, as he avoided a blow-up inning despite all the traffic on the bases.

“The defense made a couple of plays,” Detmers said. “I got hit around, but I got picked up a couple times. But things just didn’t go our way.”

The Angels retook the lead on a sacrifice fly from Jo Adell in the third but Detmers again couldn’t hold onto the lead. He allowed a leadoff double to Eric Haase, who came around to score on a sacrifice fly. He was again aided by his defense with Mike Trout making a leaping catch in center field to end the inning and rob Victor Reyes of extra bases.

This came after Velazquez appeared to forget how many outs there were on a grounder to shortstop and threw to third instead of getting the easy out at first that would have ended the inning. Rengifo wasn’t covering third on the play and gestured to Velazquez that were two outs, although Nevin said after the game that Velazquez was just thrown off by the runner in front of him.

“That one took off on Trouty, but the athleticism from Trouty is something we’re used to,” Nevin said. “Heck of a catch, for sure. Velazquez just made a mistake, but Trouty saved him.”

Despite allowing a leadoff single in the fourth, Detmers got through a clean inning but wasn’t as fortunate in the fifth. He was removed with one out after walking Jeimer Candelario and allowing a single to Kody Clemens. Reliever Jaime Barría came in and gave up an RBI single to Reyes with two outs, with the run being charged to Detmers.

“Some days you just don’t have your best stuff,” Nevin said. “They hit a lot of balls pretty hard, some at people for outs. It just wasn’t his best day. He managed to get into the fifth but [I] just felt like it was time to go get him at that point.”