WASHINGTON -- Mike Trout started the Angels’ three-game series in our nation’s capital in style on Friday night.
Facing a full count against Nationals right-hander Cade Cavalli in the top of the first inning, the 12-time All-Star hit an outside cutter over the left-center-field fence for his 21st home run of the season. The ball traveled a Statcast-projected 416 feet at 104.8 mph off the slugger’s bat to give the Halos an early lead, although they eventually lost a tight game, 4-3, at Nationals Park.
“Just looking for something out over [the plate],” Trout said. “[Cavalli’s] got good stuff. I think it was my first time facing him, so I saw a lot of pitches. His offspeed stuff was sharp.”
“It was a great at-bat, great swing,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. “Obviously, Cavalli's tough, so Mikey worked the count. I think it was a full count. He threw him a cutter, stayed on it really nice and drove it to left-center.”
It was Trout’s first homer since Aug. 10 against the Rangers, ending a 27-game homerless drought. It was also his first home run in his sixth career regular-season game at Nationals Park. (He hit one off Jacob deGrom in the third inning of the 2018 All-Star Game.) There are just five active ballparks Trout hasn't gone deep in: Citizens Bank Park (Phillies), PNC Park (Pirates), Sutter Health Park (A's), Truist Park (Braves) and Wrigley Field (Cubs).
“It's good to see one go out, obviously,” he said. “I've been battling stuff since the break. But yeah, it's good to see one go out.”
Trout is one homer away from tying Billy Williams (426) for 53rd on the career MLB home runs list.
“I made a good pitch,” Cavalli said. “I think it was a [cutter] down off the plate. The scouting report said that was OK, and then, you know ... [laughs]. It’s Mike Trout, so he hit it. I didn't think it was getting out at first. He's not known to kind of showboat his home runs, so he just put his head down, and I was like, ‘Maybe he caught it off the end, and we're gonna catch it.’ And I turn around, it's 10 rows deep.
"I'm like, [it’s] part of it. … But he's a great hitter, and if you're gonna give it up to a guy, Mike Trout's a good one.”
After the Nationals tied the game in the bottom of the fourth, the Angels retook the lead in the top of the seventh thanks to back-to-back walks that set up Christian Moore’s RBI single to left off Cavalli.
On the mound, starter Yusei Kikuchi held the Nats to only one run on three hits and four walks over his four innings. The southpaw threw 88 pitches, 54 for strikes, in his fourth start since his return from the injured list.
“I think my stuff was good overall today,” Kikuchi said via interpreter Koki Goto. “But having a great pitcher on the other side, I knew it would be a low-scoring game. So I felt like I needed to protect that one-run lead. Some games, it comes out great; some games it doesn't, and I feel like I had that coin flip on the other side today.”
Unfortunately, the Halos' bullpen sprung a leak late.
After Luke Murphy, José Fermin and Ryan Watson each threw a perfect frame in Kikuchi's wake, Samy Natera Jr. couldn’t escape a bases-loaded jam with no outs in the eighth. The lefty reliever surrendered a game-tying sacrifice fly to pinch-hitter Andrew Pinckney and then a two-run double to Jorbit Vivas to put the Angels in a 4-2 hole.
Moore drove in another run with an RBI double in the ninth, but it was too little, too late.
“That's what [Moore] can do,” Trout said. “I think he's starting to get comfortable and playing a lot. And when he's getting the opportunity, he's taking advantage of it. And it's good to see.”