Had Mike Trout hit a home run on Tuesday evening against the Cleveland Guardians, he would have tied the AL/NL record for consecutive games with a big fly. Instead, he went 0-for-3 with a walk. And despite an uneven performance from the Guardians rookie starter, they defeated the Los Angeles Angels 3-1.
Cody Morris was on the mound for the Guardians in just his third career start. And despite allowing two hits and five walks over 3.2 innings, he only allowed one run via a Matt Thaiss homer. Jose Suarez, meanwhile, gave up three runs on nine hits in 5.1 innings.
Trout came up to bat in the eighth inning with an 0-for-2 line and one walk. He ultimately hit a fly out to right field, but admitted that he was swinging for the fences, according to Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com:
“My first three at-bats, I wasn’t [trying to hit a homer,] but my last at-bat I was,” Trout said. “It’s just the nature of the thing, I guess. If I’m thinking home run, it’s not good. As you saw, I chased some pitches and was amped up too much. I just got to start a new streak, I guess.”
In reality, Morris and the Guardians bullpen did not give Trout many options of pitches to hit. His lone walk was on four pitches, and he saw just six strikes the entire game.
“I had a few pitches I could’ve hit, but my timing was a little off and I got a little too big,” Trout said. “I think in the first inning, the 2-0 pitch, it was a good pitch and it cut away a little bit. I just got it off the end.”
With 20 games remaining in the season, Trout’s home run streak was a piece of history to look forward to each night. Now, the Angels must find something else to motivate them as they close out the 2022 season.
Perhaps it can be the development of their young starting pitchers, or the MVP sprint from Shohei Ohtani. It can also be as simple as attempting to avoid a sweep on Wednesday afternoon.
Anthony Rendon pushing to return
Despite such few games remaining in the season, Anthony Rendon has made it clear he wants to return to the lineup if possible. The first reason for this is to show that he’s healthy ahead of the offseason, giving himself a full winter of training.
The second reason is to serve his five-game suspension for his role in the Angels’ brawl with the Seattle Mariners earlier this season.