3 Angels players to blame for series loss to Rangers

2) LA Angels player to blame for series loss: Reid Detmers

Was Reid Detmers awful? No. Was Reid Detmers good? Also no. The Angels left-hander continues to frustrate fans as his inconsistencies shined on Saturday night.

He got off to such a good start, striking out six batters in his first three innings of work. He had some trouble with two outs in each inning, but didn't allow a run. The Angels offense didn't do anything against Nathan Eovaldi in those innings, or the rest of the night, but Detmers was matching him zero for zero.

The fourth inning then came and Detmers looked like a different pitcher. He allowed three runs and had to work incredibly hard just to keep them at three runs. He had 89 pitches through four innings which is obviously way, way too many.

After a leadoff walk in the fifth, Detmers was done. Not only did he put his team in a 3-0 hole against a really solid arm, he gave his team zero length. This continues to be an issue for Angels starting pitchers and is why we see situations like the one we saw on Sunday when most of the bullpen was unavailable.

Ryan Tepera threw two innings. Andrew Wantz threw two innings. Tyler Anderson's inability to give length forced the Angels to use Jaime Barria for four innings. None of these guys were available on Sunday, and Tucker Davidson's awful inning knocked him out for that game as well.

Detmers isn't on here for the three runs allowed as much as he is for the lack of length. I can make the argument that if the Angels had a rested bullpen, they win Sunday's game. They pull Suarez earlier, and have legitimate MLB pitchers like Wantz ready to give the two scoreless frames he gave on Saturday.

Detmers is a huge piece for this team. He's young, but had such a great finish to last season and has the stuff to be a really good pitcher. He hasn't put it together and can't seem to figure out a way to navigate the middle innings. He couldn't avoid the big inning once again, and not only allowed the runs that ended up being the decider, but forced the Angels to use their bullpen for five innings the day after being asked for another five.

The Angels need more from their young left-hander.

3) LA Angels player to blame for series loss: Tucker Davidson

It might be a little harsh to put Tucker Davidson on this list, but after watching the game on Friday, it's hard to not wonder what would've happened if the game wasn't put out of reach.

Saturday's loss was not on Tucker Davidson. Let me say that point blank. Reid Detmers was not good and the offense did not show up against Nathan Eovaldi. The Angels were down 3-0 and lacked any sort of energy. While that was the case, they weren't exactly showing much life on Friday night either before stealing a game against an awful Rangers bullpen. The Rangers had Jonathan Hernandez, a guy the Angels scored against the night before, warming up for a potential save opportunity in the ninth. Maybe I'm too optimistic but I would've given the Angels a puncher's chance to come back and maybe force extra innings or even make Texas sweat it a bit.

Unfortunately, Tucker Davidson didn't give them that chance. I personally have no idea why Davidson even pitched the ninth inning when the Angels knew Jose Suarez was going the day after and Jaime Barria, the other long man, wouldn't be available, but that's who Phil Nevin called upon. It was Davidson's inning to try and keep it 3-0.

At first, it looked like Davidson would be fine. He allowed a one-out double to Travis Jankowski but then got the next batter, Marcus Semien, to ground out. Davidson had two of the three outs he needed to keep this a three-run game.

After that, the order of events went wild pitch, single, stolen base, single, wild pitch, single, double, single, single, walk. Davidson had thrown two wild pitches, allowed a stolen base, walked a batter, allowed five singles and a double before being pulled for Brett Phillips. What was once a 3-0 lead ended with a 10-1 final score. Davidson wound up throwing 38 pitches which made him unavailable for Sunday's game, and the Angels could've really used his length then.

Again, I have no idea if the Angels would've come back or not. The odds say no, but they did it twice this past week. Davidson not only blew that opportunity, but he also threw so many pitches which made him unavailable for a game the Halos actually needed him for.