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It’s not like the Los Angeles Angels were unaware of Reid Detmers’ potential, with the left-hander throwing a no-hitter in his 11th career major league start at the age of 22 in 2022.

But after a disappointing season last year, Detmers appeared to be in a position in which he needed to re-establish himself. So far, so good. He has become the Angels’ best starting pitcher through the first three weeks of the season.

Detmers will start against the Tampa Bay Rays — the same team he no-hit — on Wednesday in St. Petersburg, Fla. The teams have split the first two contests of the four-game series.

Detmers is 3-0 with a 1.04 ERA in his first three starts, fanning 26 in 17 1/3 innings, including a 12-strikeout performance April 6 against Boston. He’s the first Angels pitcher to win his first three starts of the year since 2011, when Jered Weaver won his first six.

With a victory Wednesday, Detmers would match his win total of last season, when he went 4-10 with a 4.48 ERA in 28 starts.

“I think he’s grown from all the games and all the innings that he’s pitched, and learned a lot from them,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “The things that he is doing, he is doing the way he wants to do them. All he has to do now is keep his concentration, keep his focus, keep his work ethic, and every time you go out there, try to do the same thing.”

Said Detmers: “I’m just going out there and competing, that’s the main thing. I’m not trying to do too much, using what I have and trying to get a W.”

Detmers is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in two career starts against Tampa Bay.

Right-hander Zack Littell (1-0, 1.17) will make his fourth start of the season for the Rays. That includes a no-decision April 10 against the Angels, in which he gave up just one run and six hits. But he needed 99 pitches to get through 4 1/3 innings.

Littell is 0-0 with a 1.69 ERA in two career games (one start) against the Angels.

Starting pitching, though, has not been an issue for Tampa Bay as much as the bullpen. Rays relievers enter Wednesday’s game with a cumulative ERA of 6.27, the worst in the majors.

“It’s not coming easy for them right now. It’s tough,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “All we can do is continue to give them the ball, continue to support them and trust that they’ll get themselves right.”

Right-hander Phil Maton pitched in a career-high 68 games with the Astros last year, and went 4-3 with a 3.00 ERA, earning himself a one-year, $6.25 million contract with the Rays, with a team option of $7.75 million for 2025.

But in Monday’s loss, he entered the game with one out in the seventh and a 1-0 lead, and left the game down 5-1. He gave up a two-run homer to Mike Trout and a three-run double to Matt Thaiss, and he took the loss as the Angels won 7-3.

“Trout hitting a homer off you, that happens. It’s a big league hitter. The guy’s a stud,” Maton said. “But those extra three runs, not having the opportunity to kind of keep us in that ballgame, especially after we scored … it’s tough. But ultimately, you’ve just got to make better pitches.”

–Field Level Media