ANAHEIM – Boo birds were in full force at Angel Stadium on Monday night with rival Astros in the city, playing for fans at Big A for the first time since the news of the 2017 plaque theft scandal. they gave a lot of reason to the crowd from the beginning, failing to offend very much against the right-handed Luis Garcia in the first three starts.
But Mike Trout gave the Angels their first run and their first stroke in what turned out to be a dramatic 7-6 victory with a solo shot to Garcia’s left field to lead the fourth inning. He was the first homer of the year for Trout, the winner of the American League MVP Award in 2014, ’16 and ’19. He was also the homer of career # 303 for Trout, who is in his 11th season with the Angels and is an All-Star eight times.
Trout worked a 2-2 count against Garcia before unloading in an 82 mph shift. The home run left the bat at 108.9 mph and landed a projected 417 feet on the left field line, by Statcast, and triggered the attack.
“We fought early, but we kept coming back, and Mikey’s home run changed the momentum a little bit,” said Angels coach Joe Maddon. “But you could give credit to almost everyone up and down the lineup with quality strokes.”
It was towards the end of the game, however, when the Angels did their greatest damage, just as they did against the White Sox in all four games of their opening series, as they now scored in the eighth or ninth inning in all five games they played this season with 14 races combined in those entries. The Halos recovered for four runs in the eighth inning on Monday, with Trout’s home run looking to start the attack as the game progressed.
Trout made it 2 to 3 with two strides, one intentional – and the other came out on a strikeout outside the zone – and helped trigger the attack. But the Angels proved that their entire lineup can be dangerous with yet another late comeback.
“It will take all of us, and tonight, you saw that,” said Trout. “We came back and had a lot of great successes in the last few entries. It’s about putting pressure on the defense. “
This time, it was veterans Albert Pujols and José Iglesias who started the rally, while Shohei Ohtani came to bat, but was immediately hit by a pitch from appeaser Joe Smith. Ohtani looked at Smith, showing the animosity between the two clubs on a night when both an inflatable and an actual garbage can were thrown onto the field by fans.
“I think there was a ventilation process going on,” said Maddon. “I think it’s fun. I think the Astros were unaffected by this and it probably feeds them a little bit. But fans do what they want and the trash cans are unique. They used to be beach balls, now they are garbage cans. “
Dexter Fowler shook off a slow offensive start with an RBI single to make it a race game before David Fletcher tied it with an RBI groundout. The Angels were helped by a defensive error by Yuli Gurriel, who opened a wild shot home on a Jared Walsh grounder to give Los Angeles the lead. Trout was intentionally paced and Anthony Rendon provided a safe run with a sacrificial fly.
“It is important that we have done this often,” said Maddon of the victories in return. “This creates credibility. And we did it against a good shot, against the best parts of the opposing bullpens, because they were ahead. So there is a factor of confidence in that. “
Trout, 29, has been a big part of the club’s initial success, reaching the base safely in 14 of its 23 plate appearances and hitting 0.400 / 0.609 / 0.677. He worked hard in the off-season to fix his swing mechanics, as he felt they were wrong in 2020 and he was pulling too often.
But the scary part for the opposing teams is that, despite all the success so far, Trout feels he still has more to unlock this season.
“It’s getting close,” said Trout of his coup. “I felt really good on the board tonight. It is step by step and being in a good position to hit and not try to do too much. He’s definitely feeling better up there. “