ANAHEIM -- Lefty Reid Detmers reached a significant milestone on Saturday, becoming just the 12th Angels pitcher to record 200 strikeouts in a season and the first left-hander to do so since Chuck Finley in 1999.
Detmers struck out five batters to reach 204 on the year and become the first Angels pitcher to top 200 strikeouts in a season since Shohei Ohtani punched out 219 batters in 2022. Afterwards, the offense battled back, with Vaughn Grissom delivering a game-tying solo homer in the ninth and Christian Moore coming through with a walk-off RBI single with two outs in the 11th to lift the Angels to a 6-5 victory over the Twins at Angel Stadium.
It marked the fourth win in six games for the Angels, who need to go 3-4 over their last seven games to avoid reaching 100 losses for the first time in franchise history.
“I've had a couple moments like that now,” said Moore, who collected his second career walk-off hit. “Whenever I can come in late in the game and I have a chance up there to win a ballgame or try to tie the game up, I always want to be in that spot.”
It was a rare showing of run support for Detmers, who otherwise had an uncharacteristically tough night, allowing four runs on six hits over five innings in a no-decision. It snapped a streak of seven straight quality starts for Detmers, who entered with an MLB-best 1.65 ERA in 11 outings since the All-Star break.
In his first season back in the rotation after pitching exclusively in relief last year, the 27-year-old has posted a 3.47 ERA with a 1.05 WHIP and 46 walks in 179 innings. He’s expected to make one more start next week in Seattle to cap his stellar season, and was pleased to reach 200 strikeouts for the first time in his career.
“It's a good achievement,” Detmers said. “Obviously, it’s a number that everybody looks or works toward throughout the year as a starting pitcher. It’s cool to get there. The outing didn't go as planned, but it is what it is, and you move on to the next with Seattle next week, and hopefully get another win.”
Detmers is one of eight pitchers in the Majors with at least 200 strikeouts this year, and even after giving up four runs for the first time since he surrendered five on July 9, he still has a 2.05 ERA with 81 strikeouts in 70 1/3 innings since the All-Star break. It proved wise not to move him at the Trade Deadline, especially because he remains under team control for two more seasons, giving the Angels a top-of-the-rotation starter for years to come.
“I thought he was grinding out there, but 200 strikeouts, that's a huge milestone,” manager Kurt Suzuki said. “Special season for him. He's been phenomenal.”
Detmers joins a list of Angels franchise greats, including Nolan Ryan (seven seasons of 200-plus strikeouts, including three with 300-plus), Frank Tanana (three) and Finley (three).
Detmers gave up two runs in the third, keyed by an RBI double from Luke Keaschall, and also gave up a run in the fourth on a two-out RBI single from Victor Caratini. Jose Siri tried to get the Angels back in it with a two-run blast off Joe Ryan in the fourth to make it a one-run game.
Detmers, however, couldn’t turn in a shutdown inning, instead serving up a leadoff homer to Ryan Kreidler on the first pitch of the fifth frame. Detmers was able to retire the next three batters to get through the fifth, but that was it from him after 81 pitches, with 51 going for strikes.
The Angels could’ve brought Detmers back out for the sixth, but opted to be cautious with him because he pitched with a lot of traffic and it’s so late in the season. He's been worked hard so far in September, throwing 99 pitches over seven innings against the Yankees on Sept. 2, a career-high 112 pitches in six frames in Boston on Sept. 8 and 95 pitches in six innings in his last outing on Monday.
“lt was a little bit of a grind for him, so try not to push it too much,” Suzuki said. “Obviously, we are where we are, so take care of him a little bit.”
But after Detmers left, the Angels rallied with a two-run double from Adam Frazier in the eighth before Grissom and Moore provided the late heroics to come through with the victory despite going 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position.
“You put yourself in those situations enough, eventually you'll come through,” Suzuki said. “They kept putting us in situations to win, and then C-Mo with the big hit.”