DETROIT — The Angels were on their way to an impressive victory before Reid Detmers let it all get away in a span of three batters.
The Angels’ left-hander walked two and then gave up a three-run homer in the eighth inning of a 6-5 loss to the Detroit Tigers on Friday night.
Until then, they had scored four runs against Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, including Zach Neto’s second homer against the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner this season.
Jo Adell’s homer in the top of the eighth provided a two-run cushion for Detmers as he took the mound in the bottom of the eighth.
Detmers began the inning by walking Jahmai Jones – a former Angels prospect – on four pitches. He then walked Gleyber Torres. Detmers fell behind Matt Vierling, 3-and-1. He then threw a fastball that Vierling hit over the left-field fence for a three-run homer.
“Some days you have it, sometimes you don’t,” Detmers said. “Usually, the days you don’t have it, those are the days you pay for it. It sucks, especially late in the game like that, up two against a really good team. To walk two guys right off the bat and give up a home run, it sucks. I didn’t have my A game today. It is what it is. I’ll come back tomorrow and keep grinding. It’s not the end of the world, so I’m going to come back tomorrow and do my thing.”
At least five of the pitches in the walk to Jones and preceding the Vierling homer appeared to catch the edge of the strike zone, but they were called balls.
“It is frustrating,” Detmers said. “Especially in that type of situation, when you’re out there grinding, you want the right call to be made. So it sucks. At the same time, I get it, it’s hard to be an umpire. It is what it is.”
Interim manager Ray Montgomery also suggested that catcher Logan O’Hoppe’s framing – which has been an issue most of the season – could have been a factor.
“It’s kind of a conversation we have night in and night out about how we’ve got to stay sharp and we’ve got to present the pitches as much as they’ve got to call them, too,” Montgomery said. “Obviously, we don’t want those to be called balls.”
The eighth-inning meltdown spoiled the Angels’ good work against Skubal, who came into the game with a 2.18 ERA.
Gustavo Campero hit a game-tying two-run homer in the fifth, and then Neto immediately followed with a homer to put the Angels up, 4-3. Neto, who also homered against Skubal in May in Anaheim, has two of the 12 homers the Tigers’ ace has allowed this season. He’s the only player with more than one homer against Skubal.
“I got about six strikeouts off of him too,” Neto said. “We have an even amount of success against each other. He’s left me two pitches to hit that I didn’t miss, and the rest he’s got me pretty good.”
Skubal, who walked two, was also not a fan of plate umpire Tom Hanahan’s work.
“I play the game pretty competitively,” Skubal said. “But I don’t really want to talk about it because I’m not going to let his bad day impact me with a fine in that aspect.”
The combination of the Angels’ strong at-bats against Skubal and the shaky strike zone left the Angels with a 4-3 lead in the sixth. Adell increased it with his 25th homer of the season, in the top of the eighth.
The Angels (55-61) couldn’t hold that lead, though. They’ve lost three in a row and five out of seven since the trade deadline, when general manager Perry Minasian declined to trade away big league assets to give the roster a chance to play meaningful games in August and September.
Their chances of winning this one didn’t seem good, based only on the pitching matchup.
But the Angels were able to hit Skubal, and Angels starter Kyle Hendricks gave up just three runs in five innings, getting a lead to the bullpen.
Hendricks gave up a Spencer Torkelson homer and then two runs on three hits, all in the second inning.
Otherwise, Hendricks had no trouble. He started the game by striking out the first three hitters. It was the first since June 17, 2021, that Hendricks pitched a perfect inning with three strikeouts.
“Wow,” Hendricks said. “I wouldn’t have even thought I ever did it.”
Even though Hendricks retired nine of 10 and gave up just a single in the third through fifth innings, the Angels took no chances with him, seeing the heart of the Tigers’ lineup for a third time.
“I knew I was making good pitches,” Hendricks said. “Same old story, when I’m on the glove and executing and seeing the game for what it is, I’m fine. Just tried to do a little too much there in the second maybe. Just three bad pitches.”
Angels center fielder Bryce Teodosio left the game after he hit his head on the fence, falling backward after a catch. He was still being evaluated after the game.
“He’s doing OK,” Montgomery said. “It was precautionary to make sure everything is OK. He’s feeling better.”