Trout makes Angels history with multihomer effort

ANAHEIM -- Angels superstar Mike Trout added yet another accolade to his résumé on Saturday, as he homered twice against the Orioles to set the club record for most multihomer games.

It was the 21st time that Trout went deep at least twice in a game, which surpassed the previous club record of 20 set by Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero and Tim Salmon. But Trout’s solo shots in the first and fifth innings weren’t enough in a 5-4 loss in front of a nearly sold-out crowd at Angel Stadium.

"It's pretty cool stat, but we lost," said Trout, who went 3-for-5. "So it doesn't really mean much."

Trout, a three-time American League MVP and nine-time All-Star, missed three contests earlier this week with a bruised left hand suffered on a hit-by-pitch Sunday against the Rangers and entered with two blasts in 10 games. He showed his hand is feeling just fine by doubling his home run total with two swings off Orioles right-hander Spenser Watkins.

After starter Noah Syndergaard allowed two runs in the first inning, keyed by three stolen bases, Trout got the Angels on the board with a solo homer in the bottom half of the frame. Trout jumped all over a 1-0 fastball and deposited it to right-center field. It left the bat at 110.1 mph and went a projected 408 feet, according to Statcast.

"All three balls he hit were scorched," Angels manager Joe Maddon said. "He looked good and he's seeing the ball really well. He looks good in the outfield. He looks pretty good."

Trout struck out in the third, but bounced back with another blast in the fifth to tie the game at 2. This one came on a hanging 1-0 curveball and went a projected 417 feet into the Angels' bullpen in left field. It marked Trout’s first multihomer game since Aug. 10, 2020, against the A's.

"I've been getting into a rhythm and having some good at-bats,” Trout said. “I gave some away, but I'm feeling better out there, for sure."

The Angels took the lead in the sixth on a two-run shot from Brandon Marsh, but lost it in the seventh on a pair of defensive miscues. Third baseman Anthony Rendon robbed a hit with a diving catch on a hard-hit line drive off the bat of Jorge Mateo only to then make a costly throwing error to load bases with one out. Trey Mancini followed with a sacrifice fly to left and Marsh made an ill-advised throw home, allowing runners to advance to second and third. Baltimore capitalized with a two-run single from Ryan Mountcastle to retake the lead.

"We gave it away,” Maddon said. “We're a good team on defense, but we did not do the normal things on defense. We missed the cutoff guy. I could go on and on. We're a good defensive team, but that was the game. You can slice it however many ways you want to, but they didn't necessarily beat us. We kind of beat ourselves tonight."

The Angels had their chances in the seventh and eighth innings, including Trout coming to the plate with a runner at second base and one out in the seventh. That opportunity went by the wayside as Trout went down looking on a 3-2 fastball from Dillon Tate before Rendon flied out to left on a 3-2 slider. It was more of the same in the eighth, when the Angels had two runners in scoring position with one out, only for Max Stassi to pop out and Tyler Wade to fly out to center.

"I kind of gave up on it,” Trout said of his strikeout. “It started away and they had been pounding me inside the whole night. I just gave up on it and I was really upset about it. It's one of those when you look back, it looks like a good pitch to hit, but he had a lot of run on that fastball."

Trout added a third hit with a two-out single in the ninth off closer Jorge López, but was left stranded after Rendon hit a grounder for the final out. With his three-hit performance, Trout is batting .316/.435/.711 with four homers, three doubles and five RBIs in 11 games.

"We had great opportunities, but we just fell short,” Trout said. “At the plate, we had some opportunities late, but we just couldn't capitalize."