The Tampa Bay Rays found themselves on the wrong side of history Tuesday evening, as 22-year-old Reid Detmers became the youngest pitcher in the 62 season history of the Los Angeles Angels to throw a no-hitter, blanking the Rays 12-0 at Angel Stadium.
Detmers ended up throwing just 108 pitches to go the distance against Tampa Bay, striking out just a pair and facing just one batter over the minimum.
The Rays had just two batters reach base in the contest, with Detmers walking Taylor Walls to lead off the top of the sixth, who would be erased as part of a double play to end the frame. Brett Phillips would then reach on a Jared Walsh error with one out in the seventh, and would be the only runner left on base by Tampa Bay.
Meanwhile, the Angels would score twice in the bottom of the first against Corey Kluber, with Anthiny Rendon’s groundout scoring Brandon Marsh and Walsh’s RBI single platung Mike Trout.
Three more runs came across int he second thanks to Andrew Velazquez hitting a run-scoring double, Marsh lifting a sacrifice fly, and Trout blasting his first home run of the night, and eighth of the season.
Chad Wallach‘s three-run blast in the third pushed the Angels’ lead to 8-0.
The Rays bullpen quieted Los Angeles’ bats, with Jason Adam, Colin Poche, Ryan Thompson, and J.P. Feyereisen each worked a scoreless frame of relief, allowing a combined two hits and a walk and striking out four.
Kevin Cash allowed Brett Phillips to pitch in the eighth, and the Angels scored four more times against him, with Trout and Rendon each hitting two-run homers. Rendon hit his home run left-handed, the first time he has ever hit lefty.
Detmers finished out the game by getting Vidal Brujan to pop out, and both Kevin Kiermaier and Yandy Diaz to ground out to finish the gem.
Tampa Bay has now dropped three straight games on their west coast road trip after winning the first six games on the trip away from Tropicana Field.
The Rays will now look to salvage the finale of the series in Anaheim. Shane McClanahan (2-2, 3.06 ERA) will get the start against Shohei Ohtani (3-2, 3.08 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 7:07.
Steve Carney is the founder and publisher of St. Pete Nine. One of the people most associated with baseball coverage in Tampa Bay, he spent 13 seasons covering the Rays for flagship radio station WDAE, first as producer of Rays Radio broadcasts, then as beat reporter beginning in 2011. He likes new analytics and aged bourbon, and is the owner of one of the ugliest knuckleballs ever witnessed by baseball scouts.
