Angels starting pitcher Reid Detmers throws to the plate during the first inning of a game against the Texas Rangers on Sunday at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
The Angels’ Oswald Peraza hits a ground ball and reaches on a fielder’s choice as Angels’ Donovan Walton (35) scored on a throwing error by Texas Rangers second baseman Justin Foscue (14) during the ninth inning of a baseball game Sunday, May 24, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
Texas Rangers second baseman Justin Foscue, left, throws to first on a fielder’s choice as the Angels’ Jo Adell slides into second base during the ninth inning of a baseball game, Sunday, May 24, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
Texas Rangers center fielder Sam Haggerty catches a fly ball hit by the Angels’ Adam Frazier during the fifth inning of a baseball game Sunday, May 24, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
Fans go “tarps off” during the fifth inning of a game between the Angels and the Texas Rangers on Sunday, May 24, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
The Angels’ Mike Trout hits an RBI single that scored Angels’ Sebastian Rivero during the third inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers, Sunday, May 24, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
The Angels’ Sebastian Rivero (38) is greeted at the dugout after scoring on an RBI single hit by teammate Mike Trout during the third inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers, Sunday, May 24, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
The Angels’ Donovan Walton (35) reacts after scoring on a throwing error by Texas Rangers second baseman Justin Foscue (14) after Angels’ Oswald Peraza (2) reached on a fielder’s choice during the ninth inning of a baseball game Sunday, May 24, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
The Angels’ Donovan Walton (35) scores on a throwing error by Texas Rangers second baseman Justin Foscue (14) after Angels’ Oswald Peraza (2) reached on a fielder’s choice during the ninth inning of a baseball game Sunday, May 24, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif.
The Angels’ Oswald Peraza, center, is greeted by teammates after grounding into a fielder’s choice to second as Angels’ Donovan Walton scored on a throwing error by Texas Rangers second baseman Justin Foscue during the ninth inning of a baseball game, Sunday, May 24, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
The Angels’ Oswald Peraza (2) is greeted by teammates after grounding into a fielder’s choice to second as Angels’ Donovan Walton scored on a throwing error by Texas Rangers second baseman Justin Foscue during the ninth inning of a baseball game, Sunday, May 24, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
The Angels’ Zach Neto, left, pours a bucket of sports drink on teammate Oswald Peraza after Peraza reached on a fielder’s choice as teammate Donovan Walton scored on a throwing error by Texas Rangers second baseman Justin Foscue during the ninth inning on Sunday at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
ANAHEIM — Even though Reid Detmers didn’t get the victory he deserved for his masterpiece on Sunday, at least the Angels did.
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The Angels left-hander retired 24 of the 25 batters he faced through eight innings, with 14 strikeouts.
After Detmers was done, the Angels beat the Texas Rangers, 2-1, scoring the winning run on a botched play in the bottom of the ninth, completing the three-game sweep.
Until then, the story had been Detmers, who gave up a second-inning solo homer to Jake Burger and then nothing else. He retired the last 21 batters he faced.
“It was pretty awesome,” Manager Kurt Suzuki said. “Just one pitch, right? One pitch that he left up a little early in the game, left a little up and after that it was just vintage.”
Suzuki nonetheless pulled Detmers after 96 pitches through eight innings. Right-hander Sam Bachman worked in and out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the ninth, striking out Burger to preserve the tie.
With one out in the bottom of the inning, Jorge Soler singled and then Jo Adell was hit by a pitch. Oswald Peraza hit a spinning soft liner up the middle. Second baseman Justin Foscue fielded it on a hop, but bobbled it as he was stepping on the base. His throw to first was in the dirt and Burger couldn’t make the play. The ball popped away from him and he couldn’t find it, as pinch-runner Donovan Walton scored the winning run.
“Like we talked about, you put the ball in play, things happen,” Suzuki said. “You never know what can happen when you put the ball in play. Showed right there with the speed and putting it in play and forcing the issue a little bit.”
With the victory, the Angels (20-34) secured their first sweep of the season and their first three-game winning streak since April 4-6.
“Definitely nice,” Suzuki said. “Feels good. To our guys’ credit, they battled this series. They had a lot of energy. They played together. They did a lot of good things to help the team win, and it was fun to be a part of.”
They didn’t do much hitting on Sunday, but Detmers kept them in the game with the second-best performance of his career. Detmers threw a no-hitter in 2022. Although he wouldn’t put this game ahead of that one, it was close.
“A no-hitter’s a no-hitter,” Detmers said. “Stuff-wise, this is probably the best game, but nothing’s going to beat a no-hitter.”
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The career-high 23 whiffs were proof of the quality of Detmers’ stuff. That led to 14 strikeouts, which were the most for an Angels pitcher since Andrew Heaney in 2019.
“Fastball command was really good,” Detmers said. “I was able to get the fastball down at the knees, which helped a lot. It made my slider even better and the changeup later in the game. Just overall commanding the zone was huge.”
Detmers also got 18 called strikes. In total, 43% of his pitches were either called strikes or whiffs, which is well above the major league average of 28%. No Angels starter had surpassed 37% this year.
Detmers got to an 0-and-2 count on 12 of the 25 hitters he faced. The major league average is 25%.
“Just attacking the zone,” Suzuki said. “Put away sliders, curveballs whenever he needed to for a strike, and I felt like he had some good life on his fastball today.”
The performance validated what Suzuki had said about Detmers earlier in the week. Although Detmers had a 5.07 ERA after allowing eight runs on Tuesday, Suzuki said his ERA was not indicative of how well he’d pitched. In his previous two starts, he was burned by walks once and by a string of softly hit balls finding holes in the other game.
“There’s definitely a couple (frustrating starts), with bloop shots and stuff like that,” Detmers said. “You’ve just got to forget about it and move on. Stuff is going to happen. But it’s definitely a huge relief to kind of get through six, seven, and eight without bloop shots dropping.”
While Detmers was dominating, the Angels hitters weren’t doing much with Texas left-hander MacKenzie Gore.
All their baserunners against Gore came in the third inning. The bottom two hitters in the order – Sebastian Rivero and Adam Frazier – each walked. With two outs, Mike Trout blooped a single into right field, driving in a run just one inning after Burger’s homer
“I thought that was a huge at-bat just to get that run back early and not just kind of linger chasing 1-0,” Suzuki said. “Getting it back early was huge.”
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