ANAHEIM – The draft birds came out forcibly at Angel Stadium Monday night with rival Astros in town, playing in front of Big A fans for the first time since the news of their robbery scandal became known. 2017 signs. The Angels didn’t give much joy to the crowd either, as they couldn’t take offense against right-hander Luis Garcia for the first three minutes.
But Mike Trout gave the Angels their first run and their first hit of what ended up being a spectacular 7-6 victory with an impressive solo shot on 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, the 16th and 19th. He was also Trout’s 303rd race, completing his eleventh season with the Angels. and has been All-Star eight times.
Trout made it 2-2 against Garcia before unloading an 82 mph change. The homer dropped the bat to 108.9 mph and advanced 417 feet along the left field line, through Statcast, and woke up the foul.
“We fought early, but we kept coming back, and Mikey’s local day changed the momentum a little bit,” Angels manager Joe Maddon said. “But you could accredit almost everyone up and down training with quality bats.”
It was late, however, when the Angels did the most damage, just as they did against the White Sox in all four games of their first series, as they have now scored in the eighth or ninth inning of the five games. have played this season with 14 combined runs over these innings. The Halos concentrated for four runs in Monday’s eighth inning as Trout’s first home game seemed to start the offense as the game progressed.
The tortilla went 2-on-3 with two walks, one intentional – and his came out in a summoned attack on a field of play outside the area – and helped provoke the offense. But the Angels showed that all their training can be dangerous with another late comeback.
“It will take us all, and you saw it tonight,” Trout said. “We came back and we had a lot of great success in the last few entries. It’s about putting pressure on the defense. “
This time, it was veterans Albert Pujols and José Iglesias who caused the rally, while Shohei Ohtani came in to play, but was quickly hit by a shot from reliever Joe Smith. Ohtani stared at Smith, showing animosity between the two clubs on a night when fans threw both an inflatable and a real trash can into the garden.
“I think there was a ventilation process going on,” Maddon said. “I think it’s entertaining. I don’t think the Astros are affected and will probably feed them a bit. But the fans do what they want and the bins were a bit unique. They used to be beach balls, now they are rubbish ”.
Dexter Fowler unleashed a slow offensive start with an RBI single to turn it into a one-run game before David Fletcher tied it with an RBI ground out. The Angels were aided by a defensive error by Yuli Gurriel, who uncovered a wild throw at home on a Jared Walsh ground to give Los Angeles the lead. He intentionally walked with tortillas and Anthony Rendon provided insurance with a sacrificial fly.
“It’s important that we’ve done it often,” Maddon said of the return victory. “It creates credibility. And we did it against a good throw, against the best parts of the opposing bulls, because they have advanced. So there is a confidence factor. “
The 29-year-old tortilla has been a major part of the club’s early successes as he reached base safely in 14 of his 23 plate appearances and hit .400 / .609 / .667. He worked hard in low season to fix the mechanics of the swing, as he felt they were leaving in 2020 and was retiring while swinging too often.
But what scares opposing teams is that despite all his success so far, Trout feels he still has more to unlock this season.
“It’s getting closer,” Trout said of his swing. “Tonight I felt really good on the plate. It’s tone by tone and is in a good position to hit and not try to do too much. Without a doubt, he feels better up there ”.