ANAHEIM — Given the Angels’ situation, just about everything in the next month can be viewed through the lens of the upcoming trade deadline.
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In that respect, Reid Detmers didn’t do much for his value with his performance in the Angels’ 5-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox on Friday night, their fourth straight loss.
Although he wasn’t hit as hard as the final line would suggest, Detmers nonetheless gave up five runs, including a homer and three walks.
Detmers has now allowed five runs in two of his last three starts, lifting his ERA to 4.13. A few weeks ago, Detmers was pitching as well as anyone in baseball, which is what sparked talk of the prospect haul the Angels could get for him if they traded him before the Aug. 3 deadline.
Since Detmers remains under club control for two seasons after this one, other general managers shouldn’t alter their view of him too much based on a few games.
And this one wasn’t quite the debacle the line score would suggest.
In the second inning, center fielder José Siri misplayed a sinking line drive off the bat of Romy Gonzalez. As Siri dove, the ball skipped past him and rolled to the warning track. Had Siri either caught it or played it more cautiously, holding Gonzalez to a single, the Red Sox would not have scored a run on the ensuing fly ball.
An inning later, Wilyer Abreu blooped a one-out double just inside the right field line. Willson Contreras then dropped a soft pop-up into shallow right. Detmers walked Caleb Durbin to load the bases.
Gonzalez then hit a hard ground ball through the right side of the infield, which had shifted the right-handed hitter toward left. Two runs scored.
Jarren Duran dropped a squeeze bunt in front of the plate. Detmers fielded it and opted to give up the run. His throw to first ticked off the glove of first baseman Nolan Schanuel, for an error.
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Durbin provided the fifth run against Detmers by drilling a homer down the left field line.
Amid all of that, the Angels also lost catcher Logan O’Hoppe, who left the game after a foul ball hit him in the mask in the third inning. Athletic trainer Eric Munson was not on the field with O’Hoppe for long before the catcher walked off the field.
The announced only that O’Hoppe was being “evaluated.” He has had concussion issues in the past.
Besides the poor performances on the mound and in the field, the Angels also didn’t hit much.
After getting blanked on four hits on Thursday night in Seattle, the Angels (36-53) didn’t even get a baserunner against Boston left-hander Jake Bennett until Vaughn Grissom’s single in the fifth inning.
The Angels finally scored in the eighth. Siri hit a homer and then Zach Neto drove in a run with his second hit of the night.
In the ninth, the Angels had a momentary threat. With one out, Jorge Soler singled, extending his streak to 20 straight games reaching safely. Grissom followed with a hit to bring the potential tying run to the plate. Jo Adell then hit into a double play.
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More to come on this story.