Logan O’Hoppe has four hits in Angels’ loss to Astros

HOUSTON — Logan O’Hoppe got the day off Friday while dealing with an 0-for-14 slump. The off-day seemed to have helped the young catcher.

O’Hoppe went 4-for-4 with two doubles and a home run in the Angels’ 10-4 loss to the Astros at Minute Maid Park on Saturday night.

Mickey Moniak scored on an O’Hoppe double and a Mauricio Dubón throwing error in the second, while O’Hoppe hit his 20th home run of the season in the fourth, a solo shot to left-center.

O’Hoppe added a double in the sixth while singling and scoring as part of a two-run ninth. It was his third game this season with four or more hits and the second game of his career with three extra-base hits.

“It’s nice to know it’s in there going into the end of the year,” O’Hoppe said. “It was something I was thinking of, thinking, ‘Is it still in the tank?’ and how much is it how my body feels or whatever it may be. Luckily, knowing it’s in there now is good going forward.”

O’Hoppe became the fourth catcher in Angels franchise history with a 20-homer season, joining Mike Napoli, Lance Parrish and Earl Averill.

“It means a lot for sure,” O’Hoppe said of the 20-home run mark. “I didn’t really set out a goal in mind of how many I wanted to hit before the year, but being at 19, you can’t help but think about it. It feels good. I wish it came in a win.”

Angels manager Ron Washington said O’Hoppe is very important to Los Angeles’ long-term success.

“He’s been struggling for quite a while, so he finally found a pitcher tonight to make him feel good about himself, and I hope he carries it through the rest of the way,” Washington said. “He has that potential. First time through the Major Leagues, he ran through some problems, but he never stopped working.

“I always told him that there’s always one pitcher who will toe that rubber that will bring you back to life. Tonight, it was [Astros starter Ronel] Blanco. Let’s hope for the rest of the way he can kick it in and do his thing.”

O’Hoppe had four of the Angels’ 10 hits, however Los Angeles was 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position.

“We just didn’t come through,” Washington said. “We’re grinding. We just didn’t come through. That’s the bottom line. They put 10 runs up, we put four.”

The Angels’ starting pitching struggled to get out of the third inning for a second straight game.

Reid Detmers faced 17 batters, as Houston went 9-for-14 against the left-hander and walked three times in two-plus innings.

“Too many pitches out over the middle of the plate, and as relentless as that lineup is, you’ve got to make them work for their at-bats,” Washington said. “They had too many easy swings. He was out there competing, but he didn’t get it where he wanted to get it, and they didn’t miss it.”

Detmers yielded seven runs on nine hits with three strikeouts.

“There’s a lot of things that I could do better,” Detmers said. “There’s a lot of things I can work on going forward. Other than that, it comes down to execution. That’s pretty much it.”

Detmers allowed a run in the first and, after loading the bases in the second, he allowed two runs on a Jose Altuve RBI single and a Yordan Alvarez double play. But the Angels’ left-hander was able to escape further damage.

The third inning would be Detmers’ undoing, as he allowed the first four batters to reach. Victor Caratini hit a three-run homer and Jake Meyers’ double ultimately ended his night.

“When you give up runs, that’s what it’s usually about is command,” Detmers said. “Leaving pitches out over [the plate], and they take advantage of it. That’s what happened tonight.”

Detmers has allowed 14 runs spanning 7 1/3 innings over his past two starts.

“He made some really good pitches and kept his focus and didn’t let the things that were outside of his control get to him,” O’Hoppe said. “I was proud of him for that. He really kept his composure. Just a couple low-exit-velo hits and some things didn’t go his way, but I don’t think he did a bad job at all.”