Mike Trout leads the home run in Angels wins

ANAHEIM — With the Angels trying to find a spark for their struggling offense, superstar Mike Trout was promoted to first base for the first time since 2020 on Tuesday against the Orioles.

The move paid off immediately, as Trout connected on the first blast in the first inning to give the Angels an early lead. And it helped fuel the fire, as the Angels managed to snap a five-game losing streak with a 7-4 win at Angel Stadium. The bottom of the lineup came up short, with Logan O’Hoppe, Jo Adell, Luis Rengifo and Zach Neto each recording two hits.

“That was a good move I made tonight,” Angels manager Ron Washington said with a smile. “But the credit goes to Mike. It doesn’t go to me.”

It was Trout’s sixth career home run but first since Sept. 28, 2012, at Texas. And it was also his ninth player of the year, tied for the Major League lead with Atlanta’s Marcell Ozuna. Washington was the Rangers manager the last time Trout got that win.

Trout entered the field in a bit of a slump, hitting .156 (7-for-45) over his last 11 games, including a shine with the bases loaded in Monday’s 4-2 loss in the series opener. But Trout got a 97.6 mph fastball from Grayson Rodriguez over the heart of the plate on a 1-2 count and crushed it to center field. It came off the bat at 104.6 mph and went a Statcast-estimated 378 feet.

“It was great,” O’Hoppe said. “Obviously, you love the bombshell. It was amazing to look up and see him lead. But the bombshell, if he’s going to do it, we’d like to see him continue to do it.”

Angels manager Ron Washington said before the game he just wanted to mix things up with his lineup. Third baseman Anthony Rendon was previously the club’s leading scorer this season but injured his left hamstring Saturday and is on the injured list. Nolan Schanuel was the starter on Monday but Washington said it plans to stick with Trout in that role going forward.

“I’m just trying to shake some things up,” Washington said. “I’m just trying to get consistency with my lineup. And (Trout has done it) before, so it’s not new to him. And if we can get a run in the first inning, I’m all for it. But I’m just trying to try things and find what works and what I can stick to.

Trout, a three-time AL MVP and 11-time All-Star, hasn’t been a consistent hitter since his rookie season in 2012. He last led the Angels on Aug. 20, 2020, in the second game. doubleheader in Houston.

He made two starts in 2018, two in ’17, 18 in ’13, 138 in ’12 and one in ’11. He entered as a career .321/.398/.554 hitter with 33 homers, 53 stolen bases and 92 RBIs in 162 games at the plate.

Washington said he talked to Trout on Monday about moving to the leadoff spot and Trout was all in. Trout went 1-for-4, including a deep drive to the warning track in the fourth, and is hitting .237/.324/.581 with nine homers, two triples, two doubles, 12 RBIs and five stolen bases in 24 games.

“I asked him how he felt about doing that and his answer was the same as always: ‘Whatever you want, jump,'” Washington said. “So that was our conversation.”

Washington was pleased to see other players respond, especially the club’s six-to-nine attackers. Trout was the only Angels player to hit a home run but Taylor Ward, Rengifo, Adell, O’Hoppe and Neto all had doubles against Rodriguez, who entered with a 3-0 record and a 2.63 ERA. The Angels scored in each of the first four innings.

“It was just a matter of time,” Washington said. “Hopefully what we did tonight is something we can grow from. And we did it against a good pitcher.

Trout’s homer helped right-hander Griffin Canning, who is starting to get better. Canning allowed three runs over five innings with four strikeouts. He said Trout’s early burst helped energize the team and that he was excited to see the offense come to fruition.

“It was amazing,” Canning said. “It was good to play with the lead and know we’re going to keep adding. Mike set the tone right away and we never looked back.