ARLINGTON -- Facing a potent Texas lineup, Reid Detmers delivered one of his best outings of the season -- holding the Rangers to just one run over six innings. Ultimately, though, the Halos couldn’t capitalize on the strong outing and lost 6-3 at Globe Life Field on Wednesday night.
Despite the defeat, there was still plenty to like about Detmers' performance, as he stifled a Rangers offense that leads the Majors in runs, average and hits. Detmers recorded eight strikeouts and surrendered just three hits and three walks. It was his second consecutive start with eight strikeouts while allowing one run.
“I thought it was a gutsy performance … really gutsy,” said Angels skipper Phil Nevin. “He certainly pitched well enough to win. We had our chances early, but we just left too many [runners in scoring position].”
"Gutsy" was certainly a fitting description of Detmers’ outing, as the lefty routinely danced out of danger. In the bottom of the fifth inning, with runners on second and third base following Jonah Heim's walk and Mitch Garver's double, Detmers had to dig deep to keep the score deadlocked at 1-1.
After Garver's double, Detmers struck out Robbie Grossman on four pitches before forcing Leody Taveras to ground out to end the inning.
Detmers once again found himself in a tough spot the following inning, when he loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth. The frame began with a leadoff single by Marcus Semien and a walk to Corey Seager. Then, after striking out Ezequiel Duran, Detmers yielded a walk to Adolis García to load the bases.
With the bases juiced and the score still tied 1-1, Detmers came up with two clutch strikeouts to Josh Jung and Heim to escape the jam.
“It was nice,” Detmers said of stranding runners in scoring position. “Obviously, that’s what I’ve been struggling with all year. So, it’s nice to finally go out and get out of a jam. I was just telling myself to take it one pitch at a time and don’t give them anything to hit. I just wanted to keep the ball down. I was hoping for a ground ball to just minimize the damage, but I’ll take the two strikeouts.”
After Detmers was pulled, the Halos’ bullpen didn't contain the Rangers' offense. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Jimmy Herget gave up back-to-back home runs to Semien and Seager, putting the Angels in a 4-1 deficit. In the next inning, Texas added two insurance runs off southpaw Tucker Davidson.
The Halos didn’t go down without a fight, though, as AL MVP Award front-runner Shohei Ohtani did his best to claw the team back into the game. In the top of the ninth inning, following a one-out double by Taylor Ward, Ohtani launched his AL-leading 21st home run of the season.
The mammoth home run jumped off the bat at 116.1 mph and traveled a Statcast-projected 453 feet before landing in the second deck. It was the hardest-hit opposite-field homer by a left-handed hitter since Statcast began tracking exit velocity. It only trails Giancarlo Stanton's 117.3 mph laser for the hardest-hit opposite-field home run.
“He’s really good … really good,” Nevin said through a smile. “When he’s in a groove like this, he’s fun to watch.”
The Angels are hopeful Ohtani's brilliance will continue in the series finale as he will be the starter for Thursday’s game against Texas.
“We look forward to that,” Nevin said. “You never know what’s going to happen. We have a chance to win a series tomorrow and have a nice four days here [in Texas]. And with him on the mound, we feel pretty good about it.”