Kent Bewley's News Story Collection

On Sun, May 24, the Los Angeles Angels played host to the Texas Rangers in the finale of a three-game series to conclude a ten-game homestand that started out rough with six losses in the first seven games. But in the first two games of this series against Texas, the Halos used clutch offense and outstanding pitching to win both games. In their second series win over a division opponent, the Angels now looked to secure their first sweep of 2026. On the mound for them was Reid Detmers, who had struggled in his previous start against the Athletics. The Rangers countered with MacKenzie Gore in this battle of southpaws. This game was also set for a 4:20 p.m PT start, as it was a “Sunday Night Baseball” game streaming on Peacock. This was the first Sunday night game in Anaheim in nearly three years, so the Halos looked to perform well in this primetime window.

The game started with both pitchers having clean first innings. But at the start of the second inning, Detmers made a mistake in throwing a pitch that was hit hard by Jake Burger for a solo home run to left center field. In spite of that early run, Detmers would have a solid outing for the rest of this game as he utilized his offspeed pitches of curveballs and sliders to get a load of swings-and-misses. Meanwhile, the Angels took advantage of a couple of walks that Gore gave up in the third inning and with two runners on with two outs, Mike Trout hit a 1-1 fastball softly off his bat and the ball tricked into right center field. Sebastian Rivero came around to score and the game was all tied up a 1 run apiece. Adam Frazier advanced to third base and a golden opportunity to take the lead was present. However, Vaughn Grissom grounded out to third to end the third inning.

For the next three and a half innings, no runners reached base at all. Detmers and Gore were engaged in an all-out pitchers duel and the batters were completely overmatched on both sides. Gore had seven strikeouts and was done after pitching six solid innings. Meanwhile, Detmers was having another great career performance against the Rangers, whom he had struck out a dozen times twice before in his career. Getting plenty of strikeouts and other outs, Detmers was having the best performance of this season so far. Through seven innings, Detmers had achieved a dozen strikeouts and had a pitch count low enough for him to re-enter the game in the eighth inning.

In the bottom of the seventh, Jakob Junis came in to pitch for Texas and he got a couple of strikeouts to start the inning. But Oswald Peraza got a single to left center for the first hit and baserunner since the bottom of the third inning. A pinch-hitter then came up and it was Wade Meckler, the Anaheim native who had played in both games prior to this one in the series. Meckler was called up from Double-A Rocket City and he hit a three-run shot on Friday night for his first career big league home run. Meckler hit a single that dropped into center field and Peraza advanced to third base. With runners on the corners, Rivero came up to try and break the tie, but he grounded out to end the inning. Another missed scoring opportunity for the Halos as Detmers still had to pitch without a lead in this game.

In the top of the eighth, Detmers indeed returned to pitch as he struck out Ezequiel Duran for his career-best 13th strikeout. He topped that on the next at-bat as he got Danny Jansen to swing and miss for a 14th strikeout in this game. Detmers then retired Sam Haggerty on a fly out to end his outing in style. An amazing game for Detmers, who amassed a new career high in punch outs without walking a single hitter. The only mistake he made was that glaring 1 on the scoreboard in Burger’s home run. The Halos were unable to get anyone on base in the bottom of the eighth, so this incredible performance by Detmers turned out to be a no-decision. Probably the finest no-decision that he has ever been a part of.

In the top of the ninth, Sam Bachman entered to pitch in relief of Detmers and he faced a pinch-hitter in Joc Pederson to start the inning. Pederson grounded out to Frazier and then Bachman struck out Michael Helman for the second out of the inning. Another pinch-hitter came up for the Rangers in Alejandro Osuna, who hit a ball over the head of Peraza at third for a single to left field. Justin Foscue then came up and hit a ball towards Zach Neto, who had to go into the outfield grass to field the ball but he was unable to throw the ball well enough to get Foscue out at first. An infield single now had the game-tying run in scoring position for Texas. Brandon Nimmo then came up and worked a full-count walk against Bachman. The bases were now loaded and the guy responsible for the only run in the game for the Rangers at this point in Jake Burger came up to try and be clutch. But Bachman managed to strikeout him out on a 2-2 slider to escape the bases-loaded jam. Another failed attempt by Texas to score with the sacks full in this series. Now in the bottom of the ninth, the Angels had a chance to get their second walk-off win of this homestand.

A new reliever came in for the Rangers and it was Gavin Collyer. Grissom, Jorge Soler and Jo Adell were due up to bat. Grissom struck out to start the bottom of the ninth, but then Soler hit a ball to left center for a single. With the game-winning run on base, Adell came up to bat but he got hit by an inside sinker thrown by Collyer. After getting checked on by the Halos’ head trainer Mike Frostad, Adell went to first base, but there was also a pinch-runner coming in for Soler at second. It was Donovan Walton, who had been called up from Triple-A Salt Lake on Friday after Yoán Moncada landed on the injured list. Coming up to bat with a chance to walk it off was Oswald Peraza, who had already walked off a game in this month of May three weeks prior against the New York Mets in extra innings. Peraza had already done some incredible things in this series against Texas and was looking to have another grand moment. The at-bat against Collyer was worked to a full count and then Peraza hit a weak ground ball up the middle that was fielded by Foscue at second base. Looking to turn a double play, Foscue stepped on second to get Adell out and then looked to aim the ball at Burger at first base to end the inning and force extras. But Foscue had trouble with gripping the ball out of his glove and the ball dropped out of his hand. Foscue picked the ball up and threw it towards Burger anyways. Peraza was already looking like he was going to beat out any throw heading towards first and the throw that did occur was a sloppy one, as Burger couldn’t catch the baseball on a hop and it bounced away from him. Walton saw this at third base and ran towards home plate. Burger didn’t know where the ball was and Walton touched home base without any throw over. It was another walk-off win for the Angels, the second one of this homestand and the third one in May. An incredible turn of events as Peraza was a walk-off hero twice in the same month.

The Halos had completed this sweep over the Rangers and they finally got to 20 wins on the season. They are still in last place in the AL West, but they gained some ground on Texas and a couple of other teams in the division. This ten-game homestand was a bit of a bumpy one and the record could have been a little bit better. But a 4-6 overall mark isn’t bad after losing six of the first seven games of the homestand. The Angels will now venture on another six-game road trip where they will face the Detroit Tigers and Tampa Bay Rays to close out this month of May. In June, they will have a massive opportunity to play in more favorable conditions time-wise as the Halos will not leave the Pacific Time Zone at all for the entire month. A lot of home games and a lot of division games(seven against the A’s, three against the Houston Astros and a three-game series against the Seattle Mariners leading into July) will be golden chances for the Angels to improve their current position of only being seven and a half games back of first place in an extremely mediocre AL West. This walk-off win on the Sunday before Memorial Day just shows that this team isn’t willing to quit, no matter how deep in the dumps their record might seem. Detmers’ 14-strikeout gem is a sign that the pitching staff is doing very well and with some improvements to the bullpen, the starting rotation can flourish even further into this season as summer approaches.