SEATTLE -- Of all the decisions the Angels made ahead of the 2026 season, moving left-hander Reid Detmers back into the rotation was perhaps their smartest move.
Detmers had a breakout season and put an exclamation point on it with a dominant showing in a 7-5 win over the Mariners on Friday night at T-Mobile Park. Detmers struck out seven over six scoreless innings while scattering two hits and two walks to finish on a high note. It also means the Angels only have to win one of their two final games to avoid losing 100 games for the first time in franchise history.
“That was a good way to end it,” Detmers said. “There’s a lot of good to look back on. And to do it against a pretty good team in their home ballpark. It’s a good feeling.”
Detmers, 27 finishes his stellar season with a 3.36 ERA and 211 strikeouts and 48 walks in 185 innings. He set a career high with 32 starts while also becoming the first Angels lefty to record 200 strikeouts in a season since Chuck Finley in 1999. But he went just 7-8 on the year due to a lack of run support.
He especially turned it on over his final 13 starts, as he posted a 1.89 second-half ERA -- fourth best in MLB, trailing just AL Cy Young favorite Cam Schlittler (1.80), Jesus Luzardo (1.84) and Drew Rasmussen (1.86) -- with 88 strikeouts in 76 1/3 innings.
“It was a special year,” manager Kurt Suzuki said. “We talked about his journey. Being such a good starter early in his career, having struggles and then moving to the bullpen last year. And now, becoming one of the best starters in the game. It’s a credit to him and his work ethic.”
Detmers flourished under interim pitching coach Tim Levaque, as he began using TrackMan during his bullpen sessions to analyze his pitches better. It's also impressive Detmers made all of his scheduled starts despite throwing 63 2/3 innings in relief in 2025, with a jump of more than 120 innings this year.
“I'm very happy,” Detmers said. “Especially being in the bullpen throwing 63 innings and tripling the innings. I'm very satisfied. Being able to make 32 starts and throw 185 innings, it was a good year.”
It’s an incredibly encouraging development for the Angels, especially considering how Detmers remains under team control for two more seasons. He was a candidate to be moved ahead of the Trade Deadline, but the Angels wisely held onto him. Now they have two frontline starters between Detmers and Walbert Ureña, who turned in an incredible rookie season with a 2.97 ERA in 148 1/3 innings.
“I was just attacking and I think that was the main thing,” Detmers said of the reason for his success. “I think what helped the most was kind of staying on the attack and not walking guys. And trying to get ahead of guys and then finish them off as soon as possible. That was a huge improvement.”
Detmers was sharp against the Mariners, as the only hits he allowed were a one-out single from Dominic Canzone in the fourth and a leadoff single to Michael Arroyo in the fifth. He was helped out by several strong defensive plays by center fielder Bryce Teodosio, including a leaping catch up against the wall to take a potential homer away from Canzone in the first.
“I owe him a steak dinner,” Detmers said. “Everybody knows how good he is in the outfield, and he proved it again.”
He pitched with the lead his entire outing after Wade Meckler tripled in the first and scored on a wild pitch. Meckler went 4-for-5 to fall just a homer short of the cycle, while Christian Moore delivered a three-run blast in the sixth and Zach Neto connected on a solo shot in the seventh. It was the second key extra-base hit by Moore in as many nights while Neto set a career high with his 27th homer of the year and later added an RBI double.
“We're looking at it like we don't want to lose 100 games, and we take that with pride,” Neto said. “We still want to be the only team not to lose 100 games. We're playing for something. It's not what we wanted to play for, but we're playing for our dignity.”