The Los Angeles Angels lost their home opener, 3-1, but a strong start by Reid Detmers was encouraging.
The Los Angeles Angels lost their home opener to the Seattle Mariners, 3-1 in 10 innings, but the good news was that starter Reid Detmers matched his Seattle counterpart, Brian Woo, pitch for pitch in a scoreless battle that forced the extra frame.
Neither team could muster much offense in this one. Woo pitched seven shutout, one-hit innings with six strikeouts, while Detmers went 6-2/3 scoreless innings, striking out four and giving up just three hits.
Detmers did walk four, but this result was especially encouraging given some of the issues the Angels have had with the back of their rotation.
“The game plan was to attack, and being able to command all my pitches was huge,” Detmers said in a piece written by Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. “Getting that fastball down and playing everything off that makes a huge difference.”
Detmers became the first Angels starter to pitch into the seventh innings this season as he threw 104 pitches, 64 for strikes, although Jose Soriano has come close to making it that far. Detmers left to a huge ovation from the Opening Day crowd after giving up a single to Victor Robles, but he added that he was so locked in the he didn’t even notice the cheers as he left the field.
The 26-year old Detmers was making his first home start after converting from a reliever, but he’s been here before to some extent, having thrown a no-hitter as a rookie back in 2022, according to Bollinger. This was his longest outing since 2024, when he went seven innings against the Baltimore Orioles, the writer added.
“I thought he was great,” manager Kurt Suzuki said. “He was under control, executed and made pitches. Freaking pitched his butt off.”
Detmers got his fastball up to 94.4 mph, and he used his other pitchers to get 14 sings and misses. He said he was amped up initially due to the crowd, and that required some adrenaline management.
“The adrenaline was running or racing a little bit,” Detmers said. “Had to calm myself down after the first inning. It didn't leave the body, but obviously it wasn’t like it was in the first inning.”
Woo was even more brilliant, as the Angels managed just one hit, a bloop single to right by Oswald Perez, who continues to impress in his audition as the Halos' full-time second baseman. Mike Trout nearly homered in the sixth, but a heady wind kept the ball in the park, and the Mariners broke through with three runs in the tenth on a triple by Cole Young and a two-run RBI single by Josh Naylor. The Angels could only counter with a sacrifice fly by Jorge Soles to score Trout.
This game also featured some feisty fireworks right out of the gate, as Woo came up-and-in on Trout in the first inning. The first pitch was a close brushback followed by a nearly identical pitch that hit Trout just above his left bicep, and for a moment it looked like the Angels star might do more than just give Woo a look and mutter a few words to make his happiness known as he shed his protective gear before heading to first.
The two teams go back at it tonight with Jack Kochanowicz on the mound against Emerson Hancock of Seattle as the Angels try to rebound from back-to-back losses.