A pair of American League teams on opposite sides of the playoff cut line open up an early week series on the diamond on the shores of Lake Erie. The Los Angeles Angels are on the road as they travel to face the Cleveland Guardians in the first game of a three-game series Monday evening. Los Angeles played the rubber game of a three-game road series against Houston Sunday afternoon. The Angels picked up a 6-1 victory in the middle game of the set Saturday afternoon. Cleveland finished up a three-game series with Minnesota on the road Sunday afternoon looking for a sweep. The Guardians knocked off the Twins 6-4 in the middle game of the series Saturday night. In the first series between the teams this season, the Angels swept a four-game set at home April 25-28.
Los Angeles evened their series with the Astros and snapped a two-game skid as they earned the win behind their ace Saturday night. The Angels entered Sunday third in the AL West, 28 games behind the Astros for the division lead. They were 17 games behind the Mariners for the final wild card spot in the AL playoff picture. On Saturday, Los Angeles got three hits from Taylor Ward (run, RBI) while Mike Trout (two runs, three RBI) and Mike Ford (run, RBI) each added two. Trout homered for the sixth straight game as he hammered his 34th long ball of the season. The offensive support was enough for Shohei Ohtani (12-8) to earn the win as he threw five innings, allowing one run on six hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.
Reid Detmers is slated to be on the mound for the Angels to make his 22nd start of the season in this contest. He comes in 5-5 with a 3.67 ERA, a 1.194 WHIP, 41 walks and 105 strikeouts over 108 innings of work this season. Detmers took the loss in his last start, which came September 2 at home against the Astros. He threw 4.1 innings, allowing four runs on seven hits with two walks and six strikeouts in a 4-2 Angels defeat. In his last three starts, Detmers is 1-2 with a 5.14 ERA, a 2.00 WHIP, seven walks and 14 strikeouts over 14 innings of work. Detmers makes his third career start against the Guardians in this contest. He comes in 1-1 with a 4.15 ERA, a 1.50 WHIP, four walks and eight strikeouts over 8.1 innings against them. Detmers lost his lone career start at Progressive Field, which came on August 21, 2021. He threw 3.2 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits with three walks and four strikeouts in a 5-1 Angels defeat.