ANAHEIM – The boo birds were at full throttle at Angel Stadium Monday night with the rival Astros in town playing for the first time since news of their signal-stealing scandal in 2017 in front of fans on the Big A. The Angels didn’t give the audience a lot to cheer on early, as they couldn’t take much offense against righthanded Luis Garcia in the first three innings.
But Mike Trout gave the Angels both their first run and their first hit of what ultimately turned out to be a dramatic 7-6 victory with a sky-high solo recording into Garcia’s leftfield to open the fourth inning. It was the first homer of the year for Trout, who won the American League MVP Award in 2014, ’16 and ’19. It was also career homer No. 303 to Trout, who is in his 11th season with the Angels and is an eight-time All-Star.
Trout worked out a 2-2 count against Garcia before offing at an 82 mph turn. The homer left the bat at 108.9 mph and went a projected 120 yards down the left field line, according to Statcast, awakening the attack.
“We struggled early, but we kept coming back, and Mikey’s homerun changed the momentum a little bit,” said Angels manager Joe Maddon. “But you could credit just about everyone from head to toe in the line-up with quality at-bats.”
However, it was late in the game when the Angels did their most damage, as they did against the White Sox in all four games of their opening series, as they have now scored in all five games in the eighth or ninth inning. they have played this season with a total of 14 runs over those innings. The Halos rallied for four runs in the eighth inning on Monday, as Trout’s early homer appeared to get the offensive going as the game went on.
Trout was 2-for-3 with two walks, one intentionally – and his one out came on a called strikeout on a pitch outside the zone – helping to start the attack. But the Angels have proven that their entire line-up can be dangerous with yet another late comeback.
“It’s going to cost us all, and you saw that tonight,” said Trout. “We came back and had a lot of big hits in the late innings. It’s about putting pressure on the defense. “
This time, veterans Albert Pujols and José Iglesias started the rally, while Shohei Ohtani came in for a pinch-hit but was promptly hit by a pitch by reliever Joe Smith. Ohtani stared at Smith, showing the animosity between the two clubs on a night where both an inflatable and a real trash can were thrown onto the pitch by fans.
“I think there was a venting process going on,” Maddon said. ‘I find it amusing. I don’t think the Astros were affected by it and it probably feeds them a bit. But fans do what they want to do and the trash cans were quite unique. They used to be beach balls, now they are rubbish bins. “
Dexter Fowler got off a slow offensive start with an RBI-single to make it a one-run game before David Fletcher leveled it with an RBI groundout. The Angels were then helped by a defensive error by Yuli Gurriel, who uncorked a wild throw home on a grounder by Jared Walsh to put Los Angeles ahead. Trout was walked intentionally and Anthony Rendon brought in an insurance run with a sacrifice fly.
“It matters that we’ve done it many times,” said Maddon of the comeback wins. “It creates credibility. And we did it against good pitching, against the better parts of opponents, because they were ahead. So there is a trust factor in it. “
Trout, 29, was a big part of the club’s early success, reaching base safely in 14 of his 23 at bats and batting .400 / .609 / .667. He worked hard off-season to fix his swing mechanics as he felt they were off in 2020 and he swung too often while swinging.
But the scary thing for the other teams is that despite all his success so far, Trout feels like he has even more to unlock this season.
“It’s getting closer,” Trout said of his swing. “I felt really good on the plate tonight. It’s throw by throw and getting in a good position to hit and not try to do too much. It definitely feels better up there. “