Trout hits 445-foot blast, but Angels fall in finale

ARLINGTON -- All the Angels’ fireworks were over before the sun went down Thursday evening in a 9-3 loss to the Rangers in their series finale at Globe Life Park.

Only a couple of minutes into the game, Mike Trout continued his impressive performance against the Rangers. He sent a mammoth 445-foot homer clanking off the facade of the second deck in left field. A few minutes later, Halos starter Griffin Canning struck out the side in his first frame.

• Box score

But there was little else for the Angels after that. Their offense went dry, and Canning lasted only 3 1/3 innings, the rookie’s shortest outing. He had a 3.23 ERA over his previous eight starts, holding opponents to a .198 batting average, but he allowed seven hits Thursday. He walked three and allowed six runs.

“If Griff’s on his game, you wouldn’t see runs put up like that,” manager Brad Ausmus said. “At times, he missed with location, obviously, but I don’t think the command was terribly off. Sometimes, you’ve got to tip your cap to the other team -- that’s a great offensive club.”

Rougned Odor led the Rangers, driving in five runs with two homers that traveled a combined 901 feet. After surrendering Trout’s early blast, Rangers starter Lance Lynn tossed seven strong innings to tie for the American League lead with his 11th win.

“He pitched outstanding,” Ausmus said. “He uses three different versions of a fastball, mixes in a curveball … and he’s got the four-seamer he can ride up. His velocity was up there. He did a nice job.”

Trout’s homer -- his third in the last two games -- was the only extra-base hit the Angels managed off Lynn. The Halos dinged him for eight singles, including an RBI grounder in the third by Andrelton Simmons.

Lynn also got the better of Trout in the seventh inning, when Trout came to the plate with two men on but flied out to center. Lynn, having apparently talked Rangers manager Chris Woodward into letting him have one more batter, got Shohei Ohtani to pop out on the first pitch -- Lynn’s 115th of the game -- to end the inning.

“You certainly feel good about it when those guys are coming to the plate with runners on base,” Ausmus said. “That’s ideally what we want, but even the best hitters in baseball are failing more than they’re succeeding. That’s just the nature of the game.”

Canning entered Thursday two strikeouts shy of the franchise record for an Angels pitcher in his first 12 career games, and he got them in a hurry. But he allowed two singles, a walk and a sacrifice fly to start the second. With two outs in the third, Canning allowed a double, a walk and an RBI double. And then in the fourth, Canning issued a leadoff walk before Odor’s first homer plated two runs.

“From pitch one, I just was working from behind,” Canning said. “You know if you make a mistake they’re able to put it out of the ballpark. At the same time, I’m trying to work ahead, so I just need to be more aggressive early.”

Both Ausmus and Canning said his Major League track record is already established enough that a misstep like Thursday isn’t a major cause for concern.

“I’m not going to change anything. I’ll do what I do every time,” Canning said. “I’ll just watch the video tomorrow with [pitching coach] Doug [White] and see what we can improve on.”