Texas Rangers Fall To Los Angeles Angels After Trout Grand Slam
ANAHEIM, Calif. (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — Mike Trout hit a grand slam for his fourth homer in three days, and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Texas Rangers 5-1 on Saturday for their first back-to-back victories of the season.
Trout's 458-foot blast in the fourth inning off Drew Smyly (0-1) cleared the bullpens beyond the left field fence at Angel Stadium. After homering in the Halos' home opener Thursday and adding two more Friday, Trout delivered the biggest blow yet with his fifth career grand slam, his first since 2015.
Albert Pujols added his 634th career homer in the seventh for Los Angeles. Pujols' first homer of his 19th big league season was his 3,089th career hit, tying Ichiro Suzuki for 22nd place in major league history.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa had an RBI single in the fifth for the Rangers, who couldn't match the Angels' big hits.
Trout is off to a dynamite start after cementing his future in Anaheim with a 12-year, $426.5 million contract before the season. He has reached base in all nine games this season, including four times Saturday while boosting his average to .385.
Tyler Skaggs (1-1) pitched 6 1/3 innings of five-hit ball in a strong outing for the Angels. The left-hander won his third consecutive start against Texas, giving up just two earned runs in 17 1/3 innings.
Smyly stranded six Angels runners in the first three innings, but Trout cleared the bases in the fourth on a high fastball after Peter Bourjos beat out an infield single to start the rally.
Trout has homered in three straight games for the seventh consecutive time in his career. He homered in four straight during May 2017.
Trout's slam chased Smyly, who gave up six hits and three walks in his second start for his new team after two years of recovery following Tommy John surgery.
Pujols connected on the first pitch of the seventh inning by Adrian Sampson. He got his 1,984th career RBI, eight behind Babe Ruth for fifth place in baseball history.
David Fletcher had three hits, reached base four times and stole a base in his first game of the season as the Angels' leadoff hitter.
(© Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)