Trout does acrobatic slide on 'crazy play' at 3B
ANAHEIM -- Michael Trout used an acrobatic slide to avoid being tagged out while advancing from first to third in the seventh inning of the Angels' 5-3 loss to the Twins on Saturday night at Angel Stadium.
With the Angels trailing, 3-2, Trout drew a two-out walk off right-hander Thomas Pressly to put runners on first and second for Justin Upton. Upton then tied the game by lining a single to left field to score Kole Calhoun from second. Trout was nearly thrown out at third on the play -- which would have negated the run -- but he pulled off a nice head-first hook slide to evade Eduardo Escobar's tag.
"It was kind of a crazy play," Trout said. "That's the one thing that was in my mind: I couldn't get tagged out there. I think if [left fielder Eddie Rosario] comes up throwing, obviously the throw beats me by a lot, and I try and stop and get in a rundown. But it worked out."
Trout's sprint speed going from first to third was 29.4 feet per second, well above the MLB average of 27 feet per second.
The 26-year-old center fielder went 0-for-2 with four walks on Saturday, marking his second four-walk game of the year. Trout is the third player in Angels history to record multiple four-walk games in a season, joining Fred Lynn in 1984 and Chris Iannetta in 2013.