OC Register: Logan O’Hoppe homers twice in Angels’ 11-inning victory over Mariners

[AngelsWin.com]

SEATTLE — If Logan O’Hoppe and Reid Detmers can perform next year the way they are finishing this one, the Angels will have a better shot at playing meaningful games next September.

O’Hoppe blasted two home runs and Detmers pitched seven innings in the Angels’ 8-5, 11-inning victory over the Seattle Mariners on Monday night.

Detmers has a 3.00 ERA in his last 30 innings, and O’Hoppe has hit four homers in his last four games.

After the teams exchanged two-run homers in the 10th – Brandon Drury for the Angels and Julio Rodriguez for the Mariners – the Angels broke the game open in the 11th.

Randal Grichuk drove in the first run with a single. Another scored on an error by third baseman Eugenio Suarez, and then Nolan Schanuel drove in the third run with a single. Jimmy Herget worked the bottom of the inning to finish the Angels’ fourth victory in five games since they ended their six-game losing streak last week.

For O’Hoppe, it was the first multi-homer game of his career. He hit a three-run homer in the second and a solo shot in the fourth, tying the score after the Angels gave up three runs in the first. He also doubled in the ninth inning.

O’Hoppe had been in a .143 slump over a 10-game stretch through last Thursday, when he said he was “disgusted” with his performance at the plate. O’Hoppe was still working his way back after missing four months rehabbing from shoulder surgery, and he said he was still trying to get back the feeling he had before he was hurt in April.

In the four games since, O’Hoppe is 7 for 15 with four homers.

His homers on Monday erased the quick deficit from Detmers’ shaky first inning. Detmers allowed three first-inning runs, and then nothing else, with seven strikeouts and no walks.

It was a solid outing, but more impressive than the final result was the way he adapted to get there.

Detmers gave up three first-inning hits – including a two-run homer – on his slider, so he essentially scrapped the pitch for the rest of the night, in favor of his changeup, just as he had done last week.

Detmers ended up throwing a career-high 27 changeups, accounting for 25% of his 108 pitches. Prior to last week’s start, Detmers was throwing his changeup less than 3% of the time this season.

Detmers threw 19% changeups while allowing one earned run in 6⅓ innings last week.

The slider, which had been his best out pitch for much of the time over the previous two seasons, was clearly not working when he gave up singles to the first two hitters of the game on the pitch, then a two-run homer to Cal Raleigh.

Suddenly, Detmers was down 3-0 after just 10 pitches.

After that, though, Detmers retired 11 in a row. He got into a potential jam when Rodriguez led off with a double in the sixth, but he escaped that with two strikeouts and some questionable Mariners baserunning. Rodriguez tried to go to third on a ground ball to shortstop Zach Neto, who threw him out.

More to come on this story.

Related Articles

• Los Angeles Angels |
  Angels’ Shohei Ohtani misses 8th straight game with sore oblique
• Los Angeles Angels |
  Angels beat Guardians, welcome reinforcements
• Los Angeles Angels |
  Angels’ Shohei Ohtani has ‘realistic chance’ to play in Seattle
• Los Angeles Angels |
  O’Hoppe finds his stroke, helps spark Angels to win over Guardians
• Los Angeles Angels |
  Shohei Ohtani sits out again as Angels lose Luis Rengifo (biceps) for season

View the full article

[Angel Oracle]

O’Hoppe, Detmers, and Neto

Three younger guys, three huge for what the team does in 2024.