As Angels season nears its end, why quality starts still matter for Reid Detmers
Reid Detmers gave the Angels a quality start against the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night, and the offense pieced together a couple of late rallies.
It wasn’t enough to prevent the Angels from dropping the series, however, after a blown save in the ninth by Carlos Estévez led to a 5-4 loss in 10 innings.
Detmers gave up two earned runs, nine hits, walked one and struck out four over 6⅔ innings. He departed to an ovation from the Angel Stadium crowd.
Shohei Ohtani was still being evaluated after getting tests due to right oblique tightness he sustained in batting practice Monday. Ohtani was not in Tuesday’s starting lineup.
On the importance of leaving good lasting impressions on the 2023 season, Detmers said: “Yeah, it’s huge,” Detmers said. “Obviously, you want to finish the season strong.
“Season is what it is,” he continued. “Can’t really do anything about the past. But the main focus is these next however many starts I have left is to go out there and dominate and compete and really just give it my all and go into next year on a good note.”
Both of the Orioles’ runs against Detmers came in the third inning. Adley Rutschman drove in Jorge Mateo on a single to left. A fielding error by left fielder Randal Grichuk on Ryan Mountcastle’s single allowed Rutschman to score.
Brandon Drury got the Angels (64-75) on the board in the seventh with a double that scored rookie Nolan Schanuel. Mike Moustakas tied the score on a single. In the eighth, Eduardo Escobar hit a triple to the right-field corner before rookie Trey Cabbage drove him in on a single to right, giving the Angels a 3-2 lead.
The Orioles (87-51) scored two in the top of the ninth on three hits and a walk to pull ahead. Their lead was short-lived as Luis Rengifo hit a one-out double in the bottom of the ninth before scoring on a single from Mickey Moniak.
With Austin Hays on second to start the 10th, Gunnar Henderson moved him to third on a groundout to second before Hays scored on Jordan Westburg’s groundout. Shintaro Fujinami retired the Angels in order to end the game.
Rengifo AL player of week
Rengifo was named American League player of the week. Rengifo, who extended his hit streak to 13 games Tuesday, hit .440 with three home runs, a .407 on-base percentage and an .800 slugging percentage over six games.
Rengifo and Shohei Ohtani are the only Angels to win AL player of the week this season.
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