Trout reaches another milestone with 300th career double

Angels superstar's big day goes for naught as catcher interference calls prove costly

April 16th, 2023

BOSTON -- Another day, another milestone for Angels superstar Mike Trout.

With his first-inning double against the Red Sox in Saturday’s 9-7 loss at Fenway Park, Trout became the fourth player all time with at least 300 career doubles, 300 career homers and 200 stolen bases by his age-31 season. And he joined some impressive company, as Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Hall of Famer Willie Mays are the only other players to reach those marks before turning 32.

Trout, a three-time AL MVP and 10-time All-Star, went 3-for-4 with two doubles and a walk and is hitting .300/.462/.580 with three homers, five doubles and nine RBIs in 14 games this season. In his 13-year career with the Angels, Trout has 353 homers, 301 doubles and 204 stolen bases in 1,421 games.

But Trout’s big day at the plate wasn’t enough for the Angels, as they held a late one-run lead -- keyed by a go-ahead RBI single from Shohei Ohtani in the sixth -- but couldn’t hold onto it. Reliever Ryan Tepera gave up three runs (one earned) in the eighth before departing with two outs with a shoulder injury.

Tepera wasn’t helped by catcher interference being called twice on Matt Thaiss in the inning. It allowed two Red Sox batters to reach and prolonged the inning for Tepera, who threw 33 pitches. He gave up a go-ahead two-run single before walking his final batter and exiting due to injury.

"It's awful," Thaiss said. "It's the reason we lost. It stings. I'm sick to my stomach over it."

It was another frustrating loss for the Angels, who made three errors and allowed four unearned runs in the series opener on Friday. Manager Phil Nevin said they simply need to cut down on their miscues.

“We had a chance to win a game,” Nevin said. “I thought the bullpen was really good. We just made some mistakes, and it got away from us there.”