BOSTON -- With his first career save in a tough situation in the 10th inning, lefty Reid Detmers joined some impressive company on Tuesday.
Detmers joined Nolan Ryan and Mike Witt as the only Angels pitchers to throw a no-hitter and record a save with the franchise, while Bo Belinsky and Clyde Wright also accomplished the feat, but did so before saves became an official stat in 1969. Detmers threw a perfect 10th to help preserve a 4-3 win for the Angels at Fenway Park, giving them the series victory.
“It's cool,” Detmers said. “It's hard to really process it yet, to be honest with you. But that's awesome. This year, I didn't really know what to expect. I could be starting, could be in the bullpen, I didn't really know. And then to get a save, I'd never really expected that. So it's pretty cool.”
Detmers, who threw a no-hitter against the Rays on May 10, 2022, has been pitching out of the bullpen for the first time in his career this season. After scuffling in late April and early May, Detmers has turned a corner and has emerged as one of the club’s most dependable relievers.
After his 1-2-3 inning against the Red Sox that saw him strike out Carlos Narváez and Trevor Story to open the frame, he has a 0.82 ERA with 15 strikeouts in 11 innings over his last 10 appearances.
“I’ve just been going out there in attack mode,” Detmers said. “One pitch at a time, not overthinking anything. Just trying to execute all my pitches. And focusing on one pitch at a time.”
Angels manager Ron Washington has been impressed with Detmers, especially the way he’s learned to pitch on back-to-back days. He threw 28 pitches in a scoreless appearance in Monday’s 7-6 win in the series opener, but was needed because lefty Yusei Kikuchi lasted five-plus innings and walked five.
“He was very impressive for us, because we needed it, and we needed him to do exactly what he did, especially after we've been using him quite a bit,” Washington said. “He might have been on fumes out there tonight, but you wouldn't know it by the way he attacked those hitters and got us the three outs that we needed. So that was very impressive.”
Detmers said he felt fine physically despite his workload on Monday, and was just excited to get the save opportunity after closer Kenley Jansen pitched his way out of a jam in a scoreless ninth.
“I felt good,” Detmers said. “I think I've been doing the right stuff in the clubhouse before and after games, getting my body ready to go out there and pitch every day, which obviously took a little bit to get used to. But when you get out there, adrenaline takes over a lot, so you don't really feel a whole lot.”
He was joined by Brock Burke, Connor Brogdon, Héctor Neris and Jansen, who combined to throw five scoreless innings in relief of Kikuchi. The Angels were forced to use Jansen in the ninth in a tie game because of their lack of available relievers, but he came through with a scoreless frame despite putting two runners on to send the game to extra innings.
The Angels loaded the bases with nobody out in the 10th after Nolan Schanuel dropped down a bunt that reliever Zack Kelly couldn’t handle. Mike Trout drew a walk to load the bases with nobody out, but Taylor Ward grounded into a run-scoring double play.
It wasn’t ideal for the Angels, who also scored three times in the third inning, keyed by an RBI single from Zach Neto and a two-run single from Schanuel. But it was enough for Detmers, who needed only 11 pitches to secure the save. Only No. 5 prospect Sam Aldegheri was available in the bullpen, and they’ll need José Soriano to give them some length in his start in the series finale on Wednesday.
“The bullpen was really great,” Kikuchi said through interpreter Yuske Oshima. “They picked me up today. And they've been pitching really well recently. So yeah, just have to keep it going.”