ANAHEIM — Lefty reliever Reid Detmers, who has enjoyed a strong season after a move to the bullpen, exited his outing against the Twins with an undisclosed injury in the eighth inning on Wednesday afternoon.
After giving up a two-out double to James Outman on a 2-2 slider, Detmers was met at the mound by interim manager Ray Montgomery and head athletic trainer Mike Frostad. They had a brief discussion and Detmers left the game with right-hander Robert Stephenson replacing him. Stephenson intentionally walked Byron Buxton, but he struck out Austin Martin to escape the jam.
Stephenson ended up picking up the win in a 4-3 victory in the series finale at Angel Stadium, as Bryce Teodosio tripled to open the eighth and scored on a sacrifice fly by Mike Trout. Kenley Jansen closed it out with a scoreless ninth to improve to 27-for-28 in save opportunities this year.
Detmers’ velocity was down during his outing as his slider was roughly 3 mph slower than his season average, while his four-seam fastball was down 2 mph. But he showed no signs of any discomfort before coming out of the game.
Detmers, 26, has fared well in his first full season in relief, posting a 3.96 ERA with 80 strikeouts and 25 walks in 63 2/3 innings. He was a candidate to be part of the rotation, but he lost out on the final spot in Spring Training to right-hander Jack Kochanowicz.
Kochanowicz has struggled this year with a 6.81 ERA in 23 starts and is currently at Triple-A Salt Lake, but Detmers pitched so well as a reliever they didn’t want to switch him back to starting this year.
