Elliott: Soft-spoken Reid Detmers has become quite a big deal for Angels’ pitching staff

Reid Detmers didn’t seem to think it was a big deal that he led the way in ending the Angels’ four-game losing streak Sunday by pitching six solid innings and racking up nine strikeouts, the fifth straight start in which he has recorded at least eight strikeouts.

“Yeah, it’s nice,” the soft-spoken left-hander said, offering a baffled glance at the media gathered around him.

Nor did Detmers see it as his responsibility alone to stop the Angels’ skid before it could turn into something long and hopeless, such as the 14-game losing streak last season that obliterated the team’s promising start and got then-manager Joe Maddon fired.

“It’s my job to go out there and get outs. That’s all I can do. That’s all that’s in my hands,” Detmers said. “So for me, it’s just go out there and compete, do the best I can do, and hopefully good things happen.”

Detmers was being modest. His performance in the Angels’ 5-2 victory over National League West-leading Arizona was noteworthy because he built it as much on mental toughness and perseverance as he did in mixing his effective four-seam fastball with a heavier than usual diet of curveballs. In his third season with the Angels, nearly 14 months after he pitched a no-hitter as a rookie, he’s still learning his craft. He’s becoming a star pupil.

Detmers didn’t have his best command in the early innings Sunday at Angel Stadium but found a way to keep going and limit the Diamondbacks to three hits, including a home run by Carson Kelly in the second inning that followed one of the two walks Detmers issued. Over his last five starts, spanning 31 ⅔ innings, Detmers has given up five earned runs (a 1.42 earned-run average in that span) and has recorded 43 strikeouts. His overall ERA is down to 3.72.

“I think that he’s one of the best young lefties in the game in my opinion, when his stuff is on. So that’s what we’re seeing,” said right fielder Mickey Moniak, whose three-run homer in the second put the Angels ahead for good. “It’s been really fun to play behind him. I’m excited to see what he does in the future.”

Often this season Detmers has been the victim of low run support. The four runs the Angels scored while he was in the game Sunday — before two-way All-Star Shohei Ohtani applied the final flourish by clobbering a 454-foot home run to right in the eighth inning — represented the most run support they’d given Detmers since April 9, the second of his 15 starts this season. Before Sunday, they’d backed him with an average of 3.07 runs per nine innings, the third-fewest in the majors for pitchers who had pitched at least 70 innings.

With a more consistent offense behind him, he wouldn’t be merely 2-5. “Certainly, he’s better than that,” manager Phil Nevin said. “He’s going to win a lot of games in this league. Part of it is learning how to win, pitching deeper into games, giving us a chance when he’s not at his best. And I can tell you right now, he mentioned a few times today he didn’t have some feel for some things and he just figured it out.

“He’s learning how to pitch. And it becomes more eye-opening each time he takes the mound.”

Angels pitcher Reid Detmers has a moment to himself before taking the mound against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday.

(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

Detmers’ seven-inning, two-hit, eight-strikeout scoreless outing against the Dodgers on June 20 caught the eye of another left-hander of some note: Clayton Kershaw. “He’s got good stuff and really he pitched better than I did — he didn’t give up many hard hit balls at all tonight,” Kershaw said after the Dodgers won but Detmers wasn’t involved in the decision. “He pitched really well.”

Detmers said he wasn’t as sharp as he would have liked Sunday. “It was a little bit of a grind in the first three or four innings, and then finally the fifth and sixth felt a little bit better,” he said. “Which has kind of been the norm the last two starts, so I didn’t really think anything of it. I just knew I had to lock in a little bit and make pitches when I need to.”

He credited Matt Thaiss, his battery mate Sunday, and backup catcher Chad Wallach for calling good games for him lately. Thaiss returned the compliment. “He was mixing his pitches really well. He threw all three for strikes in the zone,” Thaiss said. “When he fell behind hitters, he did a good job of making sure he got back in the zone and limiting the damage.”

Maybe, despite Detmers’ calmness, his success Sunday was something of a big deal for the Angels. Or it could be. They’re within reach of the final American League wild-card spot as they get deeper into the final week of play before the All-Star Game, and he’s maturing into a dependable skid-stopping starter.

At some point, maybe he will crack a smile or appear to be excited after an impressive outing like he had Sunday. In the meantime, he’s letting his pitching speak for him, and that’s more than good enough for the Angels.