Trout plays tone-setter with leadoff homer in Halos win: 'It was awesome'

ANAHEIM -- With the Angels trying to find a spark with their scuffling offense, superstar Mike Trout was moved up to the leadoff spot for the first time since 2020 on Tuesday against the Orioles.

The move paid immediate dividends, as Trout connected on a leadoff blast in the first inning to give the Angels an early lead. And it helped fire up the offense, as the Angels snapped their five-game losing streak by erupting for seven runs in a 7-4 win at Angel Stadium. The bottom of the lineup came through, as Logan O'Hoppe, Jo Adell, Luis Rengifo and Zach Neto each logged 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 the sixth career leadoff homer for Trout but his first since Sept. 28, 2012, at Texas. And it was also his ninth homer of the year, which is tied for the Major League lead with Atlanta’s Marcell Ozuna. Washington was coincidentally Rangers manager the last time Trout achieved the feat.

Trout came into the game in a bit of a slump, hitting .156 (7-for-45) over his last 11 games, including striking out looking 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 in a 1-2 count and crushed it to right-center field. It left the bat at 104.6 mph and went a Statcast-projected 378 feet.

“It was great,” O’Hoppe said. “Obviously, you love a leadoff bomb. It was weird looking up and seeing him leading off. But shoot, if he does that, we’d love to see him keep doing it.”

Angels manager Ron Washington said before the game he simply wanted to mix things up with his lineup. Third baseman Anthony Rendon had previously served as the club’s leadoff hitter this season but suffered a left hamstring strain on Saturday and is on the injured list. Nolan Schanuel was atop the lineup on Monday but Washington said he plans to stick with Trout in that role going forward.

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

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

He made two starts at leadoff 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 atop the lineup.

Washington said he talked with Trout on Monday about the move to the leadoff spot and Trout was fully on board. 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, a double, 12 RBIs and five stolen bases in 24 games.

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

Washington was pleased to see the rest of the lineup respond, especially the club’s sixth-through-nine hitters. Trout was the only Angels player to homer but Taylor Ward, Rengifo, Adell, O'Hoppe and Neto all doubled 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. “I hope what we did tonight is something we can grow on. And we did it against a good pitcher.”

Trout’s homer helped back right-hander Griffin Canning, who has been starting to get on track. Canning allowed three runs over five innings with four strikeouts. He said Trout’s early blast helped energize the team and that he was excited to see the offense break out.

“It was awesome,” Canning said. “It was nice to pitch with a lead and know that we would keep adding on. Mike set the tone right away and we didn’t look back.”