It was a wild night for the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday, especially for Reid Detmers and Anthony Rendon.
Ultimately, the night will be remembered for Detmers tossing the first (individual) no-hitter of the 2022 Major League Baseball season, silencing the Tampa Bay Rays with a near-flawless performance.
The left-hander needed just 108 pitches to complete the gem, striking out just two and walking one. He induced 11 ground-ball outs while facing one over the minimum.
The 22-year-old (!) finished off the no-no by getting Tampa Bay’s Yandy DÃaz to roll over to shortstop.
That’s all well and good. But the real highlight of the night came in the bottom of the eighth inning when Angels third baseman Anthony Rendon came to the plate in a 10-0 game. By that point, Tampa Bay had thrown in the towel with Kevin Cash calling on position player Brett Phillips to pitch.
Rendon decided to take the at-bat left-handed. Naturally, he hit a two-run home run.
Making it more impressive — as impressive as it can be with a position player on the mound, at least — was the left-handed AB was the first of Rendon’s career. However, it’s something he has toyed with in the past.
“He does that a lot with the guys downstairs in the batting cage,” Angels manager Joe Maddon told reporters after the game, per MLB.com. “I’m standing there and (hitting coach Mike Gallego) is like, ‘He has a different helmet on.’ And that ball wasn’t just a homer. It was well-struck. All the hitting coaches said he can do this. And after the game, Anthony said he’s been hitting from the wrong side all along.”
There actually might be something to that. Rendon is having a pretty miserable season at the plate from the right side. He’s hitting just .198 from the right side this season with three home runs and 15 RBIs.
