The Los Angeles Angels followed one of their familiar losing formulas in their loss to Detroit last night.
The Los Angeles Angels opened the second half of their season with yet another loss, this one by a 2-1 count as they wasted yet an excellent start by Reid Detmers via another blown save from Kirby Yates.
The Angels have several established formulas for losing, and this is one of the more familiar ones. The Halos scratched out a run in the first inning against Detroit starter Troy Melton via a single by Zach Neto, walks to Nolan Schanuel and Jorge Soler, and a ground out by Josh Lowe that scored Neto.
Melton was nails after that, but so was Detmers. He had his control in this one as he pitched six shutout innings with seven strikeouts as he scattered four hits without giving up a walk.
The game settled into a pitchers duel after that as both starters began mowing down hitters and putting up zeroes. Relievers Ryan Zeferjahn and Sam Bachman picked up Detmers with scoreless innings, which left the Angels poised to post a 1-0 win.
Enter Yates, which usually isn’t good. He gets by in low-leverage situations, but if there’s one thing he’s proven so far, it’s that he’s a bad option with the game on the line.
The Tigers’ rally started when Yates hit Dillon Dingler with a pitch, and he walked Riley Greene. Yates did manage to get a couple of fly ball outs, but Hao-Yu Lee doubled to score both Greene and pinch runner James Outman to give Detroit a 2-1 lead.
The Angels did rally in the ninth, and this, too, is a part of the formula. They loaded the bases to get the tying run in scoring position with no outs, but a series of familiar failures followed and Detroit reliever Keider Montero wriggled out of the jam to get the win.
Yates now has three blown saves to go with three actual saves, and it’s a mystery what he’s doing on the roster now that the Angels have managed to extract some of the salary value from the minimal amount they’re paying him. He has virtually no trade value, but somehow he’s still being used in the hopes that he’ll magically transform into a real closer.
Detmers got his job done, however. He put on a show for the scouts with the deadline approaching, and the Angels should be able to get good value for him some time between now and the Aug. 3 trade deadline.
