Trout sets another club mark, keys 4-run inning

ANAHEIM -- Mike Trout established yet another Angels record by reaching base safely in 28 straight games to open the season and came through a three-run double as part of a four-run fourth inning to lift the Angels to a 6-3 win over the Blue Jays on Wednesday night at Angel Stadium.

Trout set the club record when he singled in the first inning, surpassing Darin Erstad’s previous club record of reaching base safely in 27 consecutive games to start the 2000 season. His single was ripped off Blue Jays right-hander Marcus Stroman on a hard-hit grounder that had an exit velocity of 112.3 mph to extend the streak. It helped the Angels take an early 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly from Albert Pujols, who is two RBIs away from 2,000 in his career.

“My last week or two, I've really started to feel better at the plate,” Trout said. “I went through a couple games where I felt something was a little off. I'm just trying to get back to the way I was and obviously tonight, it's good to see those balls go in [for hits].”

Trout helped the Angels break it open in the fourth, when the Angels loaded the bases with one out and Tommy La Stella drew a run-scoring walk to bring up Trout with the bases loaded. Trout jumped all over a 2-1 fastball from Stroman, pulling it down the left-field line for a three-run double. It came off the bat at 106.4 mph, per Statcast.

“It’s nice to see him get a big hit especially because it gave us three runs,” Angels manager Brad Ausmus said. “But he had that single early on and that’s why he’s such a great hitter, because even though he’s not necessarily making his best contact, he’s still on base and allowing other guys to drive him in.

Stroman, who entered with an American League-leading 1.43 ERA, had even higher praise for Trout, who is 8-for-16 with three doubles and five RBIs against him in his career.

“Mike Trout’s the best baseball player ever, I think,” Stroman said. “I think he’ll go down, truly, as the best baseball player. He doesn’t have any holes in his swing. He’s got a great approach, lays off balls pretty much out of the hand, and his in-zone judgment is crazy. He really zones the ball up and only swings at strikes.”

The Angels loaded the bases again in the fifth -- keyed by an RBI double from Kole Calhoun that scored Pujols from first with right fielder Billy McKinney charged with an error on the play -- but this time Trout flied out to left against reliever Elvis Luciano, who at 19 years and 75 days old became the youngest player to appear in a game at Angel Stadium since Ed Nunez (18 years, 321 days) for Seattle on April 13, 1982.

Trout, who went 2-for-3 with a walk and is hitting .303/.492/.573 on the year, has at least one hit in 20 of his 28 games this season and is leading the Majors with 30 walks against 14 strikeouts. The Major League record for most games reaching base safely to start a season is 53 by Derek Jeter in 1999.

“He doesn’t have any holes, man, so you just have to do your best at attacking,” Stroman said. “He’s a great low-ball hitter, I’m a sinkerballer, so it doesn’t really match up to my strengths to pitch against Trout. But yeah, I’ve played against him forever, man. He’s one of my buddies. He’s unbelievable.”