Andrew Painter seeks continued success as Phillies face Angels

The last time Reid Detmers made a start at Angel Stadium, he picked up his first home victory as a starter since April 12, 2024.

The 27-year-old left-hander will try to make it two in a row on Friday night when the Los Angeles Angels open a three-game series with the Philadelphia Phillies in Anaheim, Calif.

Detmers (4-8, 3.62 ERA), who has been a victim of poor offensive support and bullpen meltdowns, was 0-5 with a 3.86 ERA in 13 previous home starts this season before picking up the win in a 1-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Aug. 15. Even then he barely got over the line despite allowing two hits and striking out 11 over eight innings. Nolan Schanuel drove in the only run of the game in the bottom of the eighth.

That's the only win Detmers has picked up in seven starts since the All-Star break despite posting a sparkling 1.56 ERA and striking out 49 batters in 40 1/3 innings. He enters off a no-decision in a 2-1 10-inning loss at Texas last Friday when he tossed six more shutout innings and allowed six hits while striking out five.

The Angels, who hold the worst record in the American League (52-82), have failed to score more than one run in five of Detmers' last seven starts.

"It is what it is," Detmers said, per the Orange County Register. "Trying not to think about it too much. If you think about it, it's going to take you out of your game, so I don't really think about it a whole lot. It's nothing that I can control. Just focus on stuff that I can control."

That focus turns to pitching against one of the hottest teams in baseball in the Phillies, who have won 10 of their last 12 games, including a 6-0 victory at Seattle on Wednesday. Detmers is 0-0 with a 3.60 ERA in two career appearances (one start in 2023) against Philadelphia.

Rookie right-hander Andrew Painter (3-8, 6.04), who has never faced the Angels, gets the start for the Phillies. Painter has picked up wins in two of his last three starts and is coming off a 12-3 victory over St. Louis on Saturday in which he allowed one run on five hits in a career-high seven innings. He struck out eight and didn't walk a batter.

"You can't ask for much better than that," Philadelphia interim manager Don Mattingly said. "If he turns into something like that, then it's a monster."

Painter forced a career-best 20 swings and misses and departed after throwing 103 pitches, 75 for strikes. He threw first-pitch strikes to 22 of the 27 batters that he faced.

"The whole outing today, it looked like he was a dog on the mound," catcher J.T. Realmuto said. "He wanted to get guys out, he wanted to attack the strike zone. He just looked really confident out there."

The Angels series is the middle series of a nine-game Western road trip that began in Seattle and concludes next week at Arizona. Philadelphia holds the second wild-card spot in the National League and entered Friday's action five games behind first-place Atlanta in the NL East.

Los Angeles brings a four-game losing streak into Friday's contest after falling 4-3 to Cleveland on Wednesday. It marked the 10th time this season the Angels dropped a game when leading after eight innings and also ensured the 11th consecutive losing season for the club.

--Field Level Media