MINNEAPOLIS — Reid Detmers and Brandon Drury, who are both trying to use September to polish otherwise disappointing seasons, each made some progress on Monday night.
Detmers gave up two runs in six innings and Drury hit a monster two-run homer in the Angels’ 6-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins.
Detmers has now allowed four runs in 12 innings, with 18 strikeouts, in his two starts since returning from Triple-A.
“You always want to finish strong, especially these last two starts I have left,” Detmers said. “Whatever I have left up here, trying to obviously give your all, but trying to get my name back out there. Trying to make a statement to show everybody who I am.”
On Monday night, he gave up single runs in the third and fourth innings. He finished with a flourish, striking out three in a row after giving up a leadoff single in the sixth.
“I felt good,” Detmers said. “Didn’t feel like I had the command that I would have liked, but I got away with some stuff. It was there when I when I needed it to be.”
Manager Ron Washington said Detmers was “outstanding.” He particularly liked the way he responded when there might have been signs that the game was getting away from him. He allowed four hitters to reach during a nine-batter stretch in the third and fourth, but then he locked down for the next two innings.
“That’s a part of pitching,” Washington said. “Probably threw a pitch trying to do too much with it. Then got back and realized what he had to do. That’s maturity. So he’s growing up. He’s learning. He did a tremendous job of keeping then off balance tonight.”
Detmers was sent down with a 6.14 ERA in early June. After three months in the minors, the Angels finally brought him back to the majors, and he’s responded well.
Detmers is arguably the Angels’ most talented starter, and a strong finish could help him reclaim his spot on the organizational depth chart going into 2025.
Drury, 32, is a free agent at the end of the season, so he’s trying to show the baseball world that he still has something left after a nightmarish season.
Drury is hitting .169 with a .480 OPS.
Injuries and slumps throughout the rest of the lineup prompted Washington to put him in the cleanup spot on Monday night.
In the first inning, he scuttled a rally by hitting into a double play. Two innings later, though, he delivered.
Drury blasted a 459-foot, two-run homer into the second deck beyond the left field fence, putting the Angels ahead, 4-0.
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It was the Angels’ third longest homer of the season. Drury’s fourth homer of the season improved his OPS to .760 since Aug. 30. He also drew a walk in the eighth inning.
“It’s very important (to finish strong),” Drury said. “It’s easy to have a bad season and just kind of throw in the towel. It says a lot about somebody who can really, kind of be embarrassed, for a season and finish strong. So I take pride in that, and that’s my goal.”
Two innings later, Niko Kavadas yanked a two-run homer down the right field line, pushing the Angels’ lead to 6-2.
Left-hander José Suarez, who has also had a disastrous season that included a few months in the minors, then finished the game with three scoreless innings in his first game back in the majors.
“He was pounding that strike zone with his fastball, and he was getting some of his breaking stuff over which can equalize everything,” Washington said of Suarez. “The good thing about it, he came out with intent from the first pitch. His first pitch was 95. Usually he builds up as he goes along. But tonight, he came out there and he got on it right away.”
That ball was long GONEEEEE @Angels l #RepTheHalo pic.twitter.com/AIcpDd8ADo
— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) September 10, 2024