Superstar centerfielder Mike Trout made his highly anticipated return to the Los Angeles Angels lineup on Tuesday after missing 38 games due to a fractured hamate bone in his left hand. The Angels went 16-22 in his absence and struggled mightily at the plate, digging a very deep hole in their wild card chase.
Trout — who had been playing his best baseball of the season prior to the injury — went 1-for-4 with an infield single, a strikeout, a groundout and a popout. The Angels lost to the Cincinnati Reds 4-3, in small part due to a fifth-inning error by first baseman Nolan Schanuel, but it was still a great sight for fans to see Trout return to the field.
The Halos superstar is also excited about his return, saying that once he received specific advice from his doctors, he was going to fight through any pain to be back out on the field, according to Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com:
“It was a long time coming, but I’m just excited to be back out there,” Trout said before the game. “I talked to some doctors, and they said I can’t injure it more. There’s definitely going to be soreness in there. But I’m just happy to be out there with the guys.”
Trout has admitted on multiple occasions that he will have to play through pain the remainder of the season. But given where the Angels are in the standings, that’s a sacrifice he is willing to make knowing he can’t make the injury worse.
“We went through a little stretch there, but we have 37 games left,” Trout said. “Obviously, this isn’t where we wanted to be right now. But we’re not giving up. But we’re running out of time, so I expect to try to be in there every day.”
Even if Trout is not at 100%, he is still one of the game’s very best players. His impact on the Angels lineup and in the outfield should be felt very quickly, and if anyone can provide the necessary boost for the Angels to go on a historic run, it would be Trout.
Giolito impresses Nevin with start
Lucas Giolito tossed six innings on Tuesday night with one earned run (three unearned) on five hits and two walks with nine strikeouts. It was arguably his best start as an Angel, despite the loss, and his demeanor throughout caught manager Phil Nevin’s attention. Nevin said that Giolito has a bulldog mentality that came out against the Reds.