Reid Detmers might have set the bar impossibly high when he threw a no-hitter in his 11th big league start May 10. The Angels left-hander has found it difficult to produce a worthy encore.
Detmers was roughed up for five runs and five hits in six innings of a 7-2 loss to the Texas Rangers in front of 22,950 at Angel Stadium on Wednesday night, his second start since his gem against Tampa Bay. In his first, he gave up three runs and three hits in 3 2/3 innings of a 10-5 loss at Texas on May 17.
Detmers, a 22-year-old rookie, threw 108 pitches in the no-hitter, which also was his first complete game in college or the pros. He was not as crisp while throwing 61 pitches against the Rangers on May 17 and 73 pitches Wednesday night.
"To me, 108 pitches meant nothing," Angels manager Joe Maddon said before the game. "For those who want to dispute that he threw 108 pitches and that would have a negative impact on his next start, I don't believe that. If it was 125-130, yeah, maybe. The last time, he just wasn't executing as well with his fastball."
The Angels backed Detmers with 12 runs and 18 hits in the no-hitter. They were nowhere near as supportive Wednesday, mustering only six hits against Rangers starter Glenn Otto and relievers Dennis Santana, Brock Burke and Joe Barlow.
Mike Trout, who entered the game with a major league-leading 1.129 on-base-plus-slugging percentage and ranked second in homers (12) and third in runs (35), struck out four times for only the eighth time in his career.
The three-time American League most valuable player went down swinging against Otto in the first (92 mph sinker) and third (96 mph fastball) innings, looking against Santana (97 mph fastball) in the sixth and swinging against Burke (96 mph fastball) in the eighth.
The Rangers took a 1-0 lead in the first when Marcus Semien singled, stole second, took third on Corey Seager's grounder to second and scored on Mitch Garver's sacrifice fly to left.
The Angels evened the score in the bottom of the first when Shohei Ohtani walked, stole second and scored on Anthony Rendon's two-out single to left.
Ohtani slipped when he stepped on top — instead of cutting the inside corner — of the third-base bag, and he stumbled as he reached the third-base coach's box, but he managed to stay on his feet and continue home to make it 1-1.
Detmers retired six of seven batters in the second and third innings, but he grooved his first pitch of the fourth, a 91-mph fastball, to Garver, who drove it over the wall in left field for his sixth homer of the season and a 2-1 lead.
Detmers walked Jonah Heim and struck out Adolis Garcia with a nice 82 mph changeup, but he hung a 72 mph curve to Kole Calhoun, and the former Angels outfielder sent it into the right-field seats for a two-run homer — his seventh of the season — and a 4-1 lead.
Texas tacked on two insurance runs in the seventh, a rally Calhoun sparked with a leadoff single.
Right-hander Mike Mayers replaced Detmers, but he walked Brad Miller and gave up a single to Eli White to load the bases.
Semien hit a sacrifice fly to center, and Seager hit an RBI single to right to make it 6-1.
Calhoun's double and Miller's RBI single pushed the Rangers' lead to 7-1 in the eighth.
The Angels scored on singles by Jared Walsh and Rendon, and Luis Rengifo's RBI ground out in the ninth.
Ward still out
Taylor Ward, who sat out three games because of a nerve injury in his neck and right shoulder, was not in the lineup but was available to pinch-hit for the second straight game. Ward still feels some discomfort throwing and won't be able to play right field until that dissipates.
The team has considered giving the right-handed-hitting Ward some starts at designated hitter, and Thursday night's game against Toronto left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu would seem like a good time to play Ward and give Ohtani, who bats left-handed, a night off from hitting.
But Maddon said Ohtani, who has started all but two of the team's 45 games at DH or on the mound, will remain in the lineup as DH for the opener of a four-game series against the Blue Jays.
"Shohei loves to hit when he pitches," Maddon said. "He really believes he can influence the game, and I think he can, too. So until Ward is really ready to come back or Shohei absolutely needs a day off, we'll just stay with it the way it is."
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