The Los Angeles Angels needed a strong start from Reid Detmers last night, but he gave them the opposite of that.
Los Angeles Angels starter Reid Detmers has been on the trade block for weeks now, but scouts who attended his start against the Boston Red Sox last night probably didn’t like much of what they saw. Detmers gave up five runs in five innings as the Angels dropped a 5-2 decision to the Red Sox, who haven’t exactly been world-beaters this year.
Romy Gonzalez helped start the scoring for Boston with a triple to right in the second inning, with Jarren Duran getting him home via a sacrifice fly. Gonzalez did more damage in the third with a two-run RBI single, and it got worse when first baseman Nolan Schanuel botched a sacrifice bunt by Duran with an error to make it 4-0.
Caleb Durbin added a solo homer in the fifth to make it 5-0, which left Detmers with an ugly line of five runs in five innings via seven hits and three walks to go with five strikeouts.
The Angels did what they typically do in games like this, which is quietly surrender. Sox starter Jake Bennett dominated the Angels lineup by giving up just five hits in 7-2/3 innings, as the Halos did nothing until the eighth.
That was when Jose Siri got them on the board with a solo homer, and Zach Neto added an RBI single to account for the 5-2 final score.
The game did feature one landmark event, however, as Red Sox reliever Aroldis Chapman got strikeout number 1,364 against Denzer Guzman to cement both his name and Guzman’s in the record books as he broke Hoyt Wilhelm’s all-time strikeout mark for relievers. The Angels represent the perfect target team for this sort of record, and Chapman went on to get his 17th save of the season.
The Angels did get decent relief after Detmers left after five, however. Jose Fermin, Mitch Farris and Kirby Yates combined to pitch four scoreless innings, and Farris in particular looks like he might have a long-term role as he continues to find his way as a long reliever.
The news beyond that was mixed. Catcher Logan O’Hoppe is now in the concussion protocol as he took a foul ball in the face mask on a ball hit by Andruw Monasterio in the third inning. The good news is that Mike Trout should be returning to the lineup next week well in advance of the All-Star game on July 14 in Philadelphia.
The series continues tonight with Sam Aldegheri squaring off against Sonny Gray, who is also on the trade block, in game two.
