Trout slams his way to a career-high 7 RBIs

TORONTO -- Mike Trout has been on fire at the plate in recent weeks and kept it up against the Blue Jays on Wednesday, absolutely crushing two home runs, including a grand slam off right-hander Aaron Sanchez in the fourth inning to lead the Angels to an 11-6 win at Rogers Centre.

Trout, who went 3-for-6 to improve his slash line to .299/.462/.651 on the year, also added an RBI single with the bases loaded in the ninth, giving him a career-high seven RBIs. It was the first seven-RBI performance by an Angels player since Torii Hunter on July 4, 2010, against the Royals.

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“It was a good night," Trout said with a smile. "Obviously, feel pretty good up there right now. This is the best I’ve felt all season, just getting a pitch to hit and not missing it. Just barreling the ball.”

Notably, it also helped the Angels to a 38-37 record, marking the first time they’ve been above .500 since April 13, when they were 8-7. They’ve yet to reach two games above .500 this year.

"It means a lot," Trout said. "Obviously got a long way to go for the season to end. Anything can happen. We just have to take it one game at a time. But getting Justin Upton back was huge and I think [Andrelton Simmons] is getting back soon one of these days on this trip to St. Louis. To have the Opening Day roster back, that’s big."

Trout credited not overanalyzing video for his recent surge at the plate, as he felt like he was getting in his own head while tweaking his mechanics and watching too much video early in the year.

"I looked into stuff way too much," Trout said. "When I go up there and think mechanics and try to do all this stuff, I get in trouble. Just being up there comfortable, relaxed.”

Trout’s first homer came in the second on a 3-2 fastball from Sanchez and was hammered a projected 420 feet, per Statcast. The two-run shot had an exit velocity of 111.3 mph and clanked off the façade of the third-deck suites in left field.

His go-ahead grand slam also came on a fastball, but earlier in the count, when he smacked an 0-1 fastball that was located down in the zone. The blast to left, which was the sixth grand slam of his career, was hit nearly as hard at 111 mph off the bat and traveled a projected 434 feet, per Statcast. Trout now has a career-high nine homers with an exit velocity of at least 110 mph since Statcast was introduced in 2015.

“He was all right,” Angels manager Brad Ausmus said with a laugh. “He was obviously a huge part of the offense. He was very Mike Trout-ish today."

The two homers gave Trout 22 blasts on the year, which is tied for the American League lead with Edwin Encarnacion, and marked his 16th career multi-homer game. He also now leads the AL with 56 RBIs. Trout has now hit 10 homers over his past 19 games and four in his past four games.

"It's a joke," lefty Andrew Heaney said. "It’s so fun to watch. Neither of those were wall scrapers. Those balls were blasted. There’s got to be guys on for him to do that. Everybody from top to bottom has been awesome."

The home runs backed Heaney, who struggled with his command and allowed five runs on four hits over 3 2/3 innings in his worst outing of the year. He blamed spotty command for his rough outing, but was picked up by a strong effort from relievers Noé Ramirez, Taylor Cole, Cam Bedrosian and Justin Anderson.

"That’s what they’ve been doing all year," Heaney said. "It’s not a position I want to put those guys in. It’s not something I feel good about. I’m extremely happy we won the game and extremely disappointed in myself."

Upton also added a solo home run in the eighth, giving him a homer in each of his two starts this season, as he also ripped a solo shot in his season debut on Monday. The Angels scored at least 10 runs in both games with Upton in the starting lineup.

“J-Up has provided some power and energy,” Heaney said.