The Los Angeles Angels trailed 2-0 to the Tampa Bay Rays in the top of the sixth inning when Mike Trout came up to bat. With 1,499 career hits under his belt, Trout was just one knock away from joining an illustrious club in franchise and MLB history.
And not only did he achieve that feat in his sixth inning at-bat, he did so in ringing fashion. Trout took a hanging curveball from Corey Kluber 429 feet off the C-ring catwalk at the infamous Tropicana Field.
In doing so, he joined Garret Anderson, Tim Salmon, Brian Downing, and Darin Erstad as the fifth player in Angels history to secure 1,500 hits. He also scored run No. 1,023, just one behind Anderson for the Angels all-time lead.
It was Trout’s first home run since returning from injury last Friday, and Angels interim manager Phil Nevin saw it as a great sign that his timing is back where he needs it to be, according to Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com:
“He looks really good,” said interim manager Phil Nevin. “I think just each day, you see the timing is a little better. His approach is always good. He understands what guys are trying to do. The swing decisions have gotten better each day, and then to see him get into one like that was good.”
Sadly, Trout’s mega-mash was the only run the Angels would score on Tuesday night. In the bottom of the sixth, Isaac Paredes would homer to make it 3-1. The next inning, the Rays would proceed to score six runs on four hits and three walks off of Jesse Chavez and Touki Toussaint.
By the time it was all said and done, the Rays had built an 11-1 advantage, making Trout’s massive home run nothing more than a blip on the radar. It was also emblematic of the Angels woes on a day that owner Arte Moreno announced his intention to find a buyer for the team in the coming months.
Moreno weighing selling Angels
In a shocking news development on Tuesday afternoon, the Angels announced that Moreno has come to the conclusion that he must sell the team. Of course, the timeline for this sale remains unknown, as the reveal was largely exploratory.
But should Moreno go through with this decision, it could be one of the most seismic shifts in the history of Angels baseball.
