KANSAS CITY -- It was only a matter of time before Mike Trout determined the time was right Sunday to break another club record. With his towering two-run homer to left field in the first inning against the Royals, Trout notched his 797th extra-base hit in an Angels uniform.
The Trout homer came immediately after Zach Neto opened the game with a single off Seth Lugo. The big blow by Trout moved him past Garret Anderson, another Angels legend who passed away recently from acute necrotizing pancreatitis. The all-time MLB leader in extra-base hits is Hank Aaron with 1,477.
Whenever a player reaches a milestone, it’s always preferable that it comes during a winning effort, but that wasn’t the case for Trout and Co. in the finale of a three-game series. The Angels raced out to a 6-0 lead in the second but wound up taking an 11-9 loss in 10 innings. The Royals received a two-out, two-run tying homer from Jac Caglianone off Drew Pomeranz in the ninth.
Then, after the Angels scored once in the 10th, newcomer Joey Lucchesi had two on and two outs when Lane Thomas delivered a game-winning three-run homer.
The Angels were swept in the series and fell to 12-17.
To wind up with a loss after being one out away in the ninth and 10th made for a somber mood in the Angels' clubhouse.
When Trout hit his homer in the first, the Angels' offense was on fire in the early portion of the game. But rain made for tough conditions as the day wore on and the Angels couldn’t finish what they had started.
“Anytime you get a homer in the first, it’s a good feeling,” Angels starter Reid Detmers said of Trout’s early shot. “It relieves a little pressure from the other guys where you don’t have to be perfect.”
Detmers was indeed perfect through the opening three innings and wound up allowing five hits and three runs over five innings. Lugo, who came in with a 1.15 earned run average through five starts, had allowed just one hit over seven innings in his previous start against Baltimore. But the Angels pummeled the veteran right-hander for 14 hits and seven earned runs with a strong early attack on a rainy day.
“The last two innings for me were very difficult,” Detmers said. “I had no grip on the ball. Had to baby everything.”
Still, the Angels were hanging on after a 1-hour 29-minute rain delay and went to the bottom of the ninth with an 8-5 lead. But with two outs and the Angels up by two, the left-handed-hitting Caglianone hit a towering homer off Pomeranz just inside the right-field foul pole.
“Our bet was Pom against lefties and he got us,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. “Threw three heaters and he got the third one.”
The Angels regained the lead and Lucchesi got a huge strikeout of Isaac Collins with one out and a runner at third in the 10th. But Lucchesi walked Maikel Garcia before Thomas unloaded for the game-winning homer.
“Pretty tough,” said Lucchesi. “Missed my spot there.”
Thus, Trout’s record-breaking extra-base hit came on what turned out to be a gut-punch day for the Angels.
Trout, who turns 35 on Aug. 7, is in his 16th year with the Angels. In the opening game of the weekend series in Kansas City, Trout broke the club record for most games played at a position with his 1,367th game in center field.
Trout’s record-breaking homer was his 9th this season. It came on a 1-0 pitch with an exit velocity of 100 mph. He becomes the third active player who leads a franchise all time in extra-base hits, joining José Ramírez (Guardians) and Giancarlo Stanton (Marlins).
But in the end, the Angels weren’t able to celebrate.
“We expect more,” Suzuki said. “In this game, you have to have a short memory and get ready to go tomorrow.”