TAMPA -- The Angels decided to hold their own home run party in Tampa on Thursday before setting off for Houston for the weekend. Jo Adell, Mike Trout and Taylor Ward served as the emcees.
One day after belting four homers in a 5-4 loss to the Rays, the Halos went deep six times -- including two long balls by Adell in the fifth inning alone -- in their 11-1 victory over Tampa Bay at George M. Steinbrenner Field, pushing their record to 8-4.
Here are three ways the Angels made homer history in this series finale.
Adell’s two-homer inning
Adell entered the day homerless through eight games and batting .185 with a .489 OPS. But he still felt like his swing was in a good spot. He felt like he was close to finding his groove. He found it in the fifth inning. He started that loud frame by pouncing on a Zack Littell slider and launching it a Statcast-projected 408 feet to center field. Adell came back up later in the inning and clobbered a hanging curveball from Mason Englert well beyond the left-field fence.
“I don't think I've ever done that, so it was pretty cool,” Adell said of his two-homer inning. “... Today is one of those days that reminds you that you're on track.”
Only two other Angels have homered in the same inning in franchise history: Kendrys Morales on July 30, 2012, against the Rangers, and Rick Reichardt on April 30, 1966, against the Red Sox. Just one big leaguer -- Brent Rooker of the A's -- homered twice in an inning all of last season.
“I'm so happy for Jo because as hard as he works and how much he cares and the great teammate he is, it's nice for him to get something going so he can start feeling really good about himself,” manager Ron Washington said.
Fireworks in the fifth
The Angels did significant damage between Adell’s first two homers of the year. Taylor Ward, who crushed his ninth career leadoff home run in the first inning, hit his second homer of the day in the fifth. It landed almost in the same spot as Adell’s first shot in center field. That two-run blast was Ward’s third homer of the season, all of which have come in the past two games.
Luis Rengifo kept the line moving in the fifth with a single to center, which set the stage for Mike Trout to swat Littell’s final pitch of the day over the short porch in right. Adell, Ward and Trout helped the Angels tie a franchise record with four homers in one inning, something it had achieved twice previously: May 28, 2000, at Kansas City, and June 24, 2023, at Colorado.
“That was pretty special,” Ward said of the homer barrage. “We’ve got a great group of guys hitters, and I think that’s something we could do a few times this year.”
That trio added their names to the record book again a little later.
Two for you, two for you, two for you
The Angels had already tied a franchise record with 17 homers in a five-game span by the time Trout stepped to the plate in the top of the ninth. The face of said franchise then set a new high mark by bashing a 97 mph fastball out to right-center. His fifth dinger of the season also gave the Angels three players with multiple homers in the same game for the third time in club history. That’s the most such games of any MLB franchise.
Before Adell, Ward and Trout, there was Troy Glaus, Tim Salmon and Mo Vaughn on April 21, 2000, against the Devil Rays. The first instance of three Angels with multihomer games occurred on July 14, 1990, against the Blue Jays, courtesy of Dante Bichette, Brian Downing and Dave Winfield.
“I think the biggest thing,” Trout said, “is just having good at-bats, passing the baton, getting runners on base, putting some pressure on defense, putting pressure on the pitchers and keeping our approach.”
All of these homers slightly overshadowed another stellar performance from starting pitcher José Soriano, who collected 17 outs on the ground, including three double plays, across 7 2/3 innings. Plus, Thursday’s win marked the Angels’ fourth straight series victory to begin the year. They hadn’t done that since 2018.
“I hope we can continue to stack up series wins because that's what gets you to the playoffs,” Washington said. “Our goal is to hopefully continue to play good baseball, and when that time comes, hopefully we are there. You have to do it by winning series.”