Angels option Reid Detmers to Triple-A after nightmare continues with loss to Mariners – Whittier Daily News

SEATTLE – Reid Detmers stood in front of his locker in an empty clubhouse, still trying to compose himself from the news that crushed him but also seemed inevitable.

After Detmers allowed five runs in a 9-0 loss to the Seattle Mariners on Saturday, the Angels optioned the 6.14 ERA left-hander to Triple-A Salt Lake.

“It (expletive) sucks,” Detmers said. “There is no other way to say it. Stinks. I just have to do better.”

Detmers, a 24-year-old former first-round pick, has at times in his brief major league career been one of the Angels’ best starters, including when he threw a no-hitter in 2022. At other times, he has struggled So much so that he has been one of the worst starters in the rotation.

The fact that he has been able to recover from other crises, although not to the level of this one, could provide some cause for hope for Detmers and the Angels.

“I’ve had some battles,” said Detmers, who paused as he fought back tears. “I always came back from them. I do not have any doubt”.

The Angels had no choice but to do something different with Detmers after Saturday’s game, which was the last of an eight-start stretch in which he has posted an 8.93 ERA.

“He hasn’t been able to hold hitters consistently,” manager Ron Washington said. “Like today, he was in front of them all day. And the next thing you know, the score is 3-2. He just couldn’t control his slider, which is his pitch. He couldn’t control his fastball. The idea is that we just want to get you into an environment where you don’t worry about results and finding your stuff. This is not something that is going to be permanent, or that we consider to be harmful to him. We just feel that he needs to be in an environment where he can rediscover who he is.”

Washington said the Angels have not decided what they will do with Detmers’ rotation spot. They will call up another pitcher to take his place on the roster on Sunday. In fact, they could delay a decision on another starter for more than a week, because they have days off on Thursday and a week from Monday.

Detmers was shaky from the start in this one, starting with a walk to the first batter of the game. Detmers completed the first three innings with just one run on the board.

That was set up by a walk to No. 9 hitter Ryan Bliss in the third inning.

An inning later, Detmers was again facing the bottom of Seattle’s order and needed just one out to escape. Detmers walked eighth batter Luke Raley and Bliss.

Pitching coach Barry Enright came to the mound to visit with Detmers before facing leadoff hitter JP Crawford for the third time in the game.

Detmers got ahead of Crawford with a strike on the first pitch, and the count was 1 and 2 when he missed with a slider. His next pitch was a curveball that hung right on the letters, and Crawford lifted it just over the left field fence for a grand slam. That was the end of Detmers’ day on the mound.

“I need to get the slider back,” Detmers said. “That is first. And obviously having the right mindset and regaining confidence. But the main thing is to get my speech out. “I really haven’t had it all year.”

An adjustment to Detmers’ slider was what sparked his success after a brief stint in Triple-A in 2022.