PHOENIX -- Lefty Reid Detmers has been on a remarkable run for more than a month and kept it rolling against the D-backs while Zach Neto and Mike Trout both went deep in an impressive all-around effort for the Angels.
Detmers threw seven scoreless innings, scattering three hits with no walks while Neto went 2-for-4 with a homer and a triple and Trout went 2-for-4 with a homer, a double and three RBIs in a 7-0 win on Tuesday at Chase Field. It was a nice bounce-back for the Angels after dropping two in a row.
“It was fun to watch,” manager Kurt Suzuki said. “Obviously, Det set the tone on the mound, attacking guys, putting guys away, putting up zeros. And then the offense, pretty consistent, every inning getting baserunners on, putting pressure on them, putting runs across. So, good team effort.”
Detmers has been a strikeout machine over his last five starts, posting a 1.36 ERA with 39 strikeouts in 33 innings. But he was efficient and mostly pitched to contact against Arizona, getting just three strikeouts, while improving to 3-5 with a 3.68 ERA and 100 strikeouts in 88 innings this year.
He said the D-backs don’t whiff often, so it was part of the game plan to mix things up and have them put the ball in play.
“They don’t swing and miss a whole lot and put a lot of balls in play, so just work off them putting everything in play,” Detmers said. "Just trying to keep the ball down and pick and choose when to go up. Other than that, just stuck to our game plan of keeping the ball down and making them hit on the ground, put it in play.”
He gave up his first hit on a bloop single to center to Adrian Del Castillo to open the third, but erased him by getting LuJames Groover to ground into a 6-4-3 double play. Otherwise, Detmers didn’t give up a hit again until he allowed back-to-back singles to Ketel Marte and Geraldo Perdomo with two outs in the sixth. But Detmers struck out Corbin Carroll for his 100th strikeout of the season to get out of the jam.
“Carroll's a really good hitter, but we knew he was going to be swinging,” Detmers said. “So we went slider, curveball, then fastball on top to finish off. We just wanted to keep him off-balance; we knew he was going to be swinging.”
The Angels gave him plenty of run support, including Neto connecting on a solo blast in the third inning off right-hander Merrill Kelly. Neto came into the game in an 0-for-10 skid and went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and a double play on Monday. But he rebounded in a big way with his 14th homer of the year and his first since he homered in three straight games from June 6-8.
Neto also just missed a solo homer in the fifth but had to settle for a triple off the top of the wall in center field. Trout, though, followed with a two-run blast that just cleared the center-field fence for his second straight game with a homer and his 17th of the season.
“With Trouty, it always feels like he's always swinging the bat good,” Suzuki said. “It's just a matter of things falling for him. He’s been pretty consistent throughout the whole season.”
The Angels would love to see Neto and Trout get going at the top of the lineup, however, as they’ve both had some struggles this month. Neto has been strikeout prone while Trout scuffled in early June before turning a corner over the last week.
“It felt good,” Neto said. “Any day we get a win, it always feels good. Starting to feel a little better in the box, but I've got to do a better job of swinging and missing less on balls off the plate. I'm a way better hitter when I'm swinging at strikes.”
Trout also ripped an RBI double to left off reliever Ryan Thompson in the sixth, as the Angels kept adding runs. Every Angels starter had a hit except for Nick Madrigal, while the bottom of the lineup also produced, as Denzer Guzman, Logan O’Hoppe and Donovan Walton combined to go 7-for-12 with two doubles.
“It was fully from top to bottom,” Suzuki said. “The pressure was constant, pushing forward with these guys. It was fun to watch.”