Angels cruise past O's after Trout's early HR

Simmons' 4 hits, Maldonado's homer part of 13-hit attack

June 29th, 2018

BALTIMORE -- After searching in vain for a breakout in Boston, the Angels found what they needed on Friday night at Camden Yards.
Right-hander went 5 1/3 scoreless innings in his third career start and had four hits as the Angels snapped a six-game skid with a 7-1 win over the Orioles in the series opener.
marked his return to center field by hitting his 24th homer of the season -- and first since June 12 -- off rookie starter (2-5).
also homered off rookie Ryan Meisinger, who was making his Major League debut, and completed a 3-for-5 performance with a single off , another O's reliever making his debut.

"Mike got us on the board and we kept pecking away," manager Mike Scioscia said. "It starts with pitching. You've got to keep putting up those zeros to let yourself and the offense get going. And that's what we did tonight."
The Angels pounded out 13 hits for their first win in the fifth game of a four-city, 10-game road swing, while scoring their most runs since an 8-5 victory over the Blue Jays on June 21.
In the process, the Angels erased some of the recent frustration of succumbing to a six-game season sweep by the Red Sox, including three losses at Fenway Park earlier this week. The Angels are 4-0 against the O's, who own the worst record in the Majors.
"We went through a rough stretch," Trout said. "It's a grind. But tonight was a good all-around performance."
The outburst proved more than enough for Pena (1-0), who enjoyed a lead for his entire evening after the Trout's solo blast in the first, followed by two runs in the third and three in the sixth.

Pena utilized double plays to escape the first and third innings before retiring eight of the last 10 batters he faced. The 28-year-old struck out five, walked one and allowed five hits over his 76 pitches, exiting after fanning for a second time in the sixth.
"His ball-strike ratio wasn't great, but he was able to get back into counts and make some pitches," Scioscia said. "It's a good 16 outs he gave us."
came on and induced Manny Machado to ground into an inning-ending double play, threw a scoreless seventh and allowed a run over two innings to close it out.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Trout's grab: In his return to center field after nine games nursing a sprained finger as the designated hitter, Trout showed little sign of rustiness in the fourth inning, when his leaping catch at full stride took an extra-base hit away from Danny Valencia. With two out, Machado almost certainly would've scored from first had it dropped. More >

Valbuena's single: The Angels owed a chunk of their three-run sixth inning to 's fortuitous single. With none out, Valbuena skied a fly ball to left that should've been a routine putout, only lost it in the lights. The result was runners on second and third, setting up a big inning.
SIMMONS SIZZLES
Simmons logged three of his hits -- including an RBI single and a double -- off Hess before he singled again in the ninth off Fry. Simmons is batting .448 (13-for-29) over his past seven games after posting his second four-hit game of the season.

SOUND SMART
Trout's homer was his 1,132nd career hit. What's special about that? Well, it's one hit more than his manager had in 13 big league seasons.

"He's like []. When he gets a hit, you never know the names that he passes," Scioscia quipped. "I think there's a lot more guys on that list above me. I don't think that's going to make his mantle."
MITEL REPLAY OF THE DAY
With the infield drawn in and one out in the sixth, Simmons ran on contact on Maldonado's chopper to short. Machado charged, fielded and threw home, where home-plate umpire Adam Hamari ruled Simmons out. The call was overturned with replay showing Simmons had slid under 's tag.

UP NEXT
Angels left-hander (6-5, 2.69 ERA) aims to complete an impressive June when he takes the mound against the Orioles at 1:05 p.m. PT on Saturday at Camden Yards. Skaggs is 3-1 with an 0.67 ERA in four starts this month, and he is coming off a hard-luck 2-0 loss to the Royals on Monday. Right-hander (2-8, 4.70 ERA) will start for the Orioles.