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The Los Angeles Angels had a win in their grasp on Thursday night — until it unraveled in catastrophic fashion. Leading 4-2 going into the eighth inning, the Angels saw the Detroit Tigers erupt for eight unanswered runs to snatch a 10-4 victory at Angel Stadium. It marked the Angels’ sixth straight loss and underscored the spiraling state of a club now sitting at 12-18.
After Reid Detmers failed to retire two key left-handed hitters in the eighth, manager Ron Washington didn’t hold back in explaining the misfire postgame.
“I think the main thing was he didn’t get those left-handers out,” Washington said. “If he’d have gotten those two left-handers out, we’d have gone into the ninth inning with a 4-2 lead. That’s where the downfall came. Walked the first one. Then gave up a base-hit, two-run single to the next one. It just didn’t happen.”
Washington had turned to Detmers after Ryan Zeferjahn allowed a leadoff single to Gleyber Torres. Detmers, a lefty, was tasked with navigating through lefty slugger Riley Greene and a favorable matchup stretch. But after walking Greene and surrendering an RBI single to Andy Ibáñez, the Tigers took advantage.
The Angels blow the lead to the Tigers
Zach McKinstry tied the game with a single before Dillon Dingler crushed a three-run homer off Detmers to put Detroit ahead 7-4. The eighth-inning decision to stick with Detmers instead of bringing in another arm drew postgame scrutiny.
“We were going to use Zeferjahn for one-plus. We wanted to get him past Torres,” Washington explained. “That’s why I went with [Detmers] in the eighth, to get him past Torres. Because the rest of the lineup, we felt was set up pretty good for Detmers. But it didn’t work out.”
Compounding the collapse was sloppy defense from Jo Adell in center field, whose fumble allowed runners to advance on Ibáñez’s single. Washington didn’t sugarcoat it.
“It was obvious. It wasn’t very good at that time in the game,” he said. “We certainly didn’t need that. Just wasn’t very good at the end right there.”
The Angels have now lost 14 of their last 18 games and continue to rank among the league’s worst in on-base percentage and strikeouts. And with Mike Trout headed to the injured list due to a bone bruise in his knee, things may get worse before they get better. While the Angels search for answers, one truth is clear: bullpen management and defensive execution have to improve — fast.
“We just didn’t get it done,” Washington said. “That’s the bottom line.”
