Tigers Blanked By Angels 10-0
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Mike Trout capped a nine-run first inning against Rick Porcello with his first career grand slam, Garrett Richards pitched two-hit ball over seven innings and the Los Angeles Angels routed the Detroit Tigers 10-0 on Saturday.
Richards (1-0) struck out eight and walked none. Prince Fielder's leadoff single in the second and Miguel Cabrera's leadoff double in the seventh were the only hits off the right-hander in his second start for the injured Jered Weaver, who is sidelined with a broken bone in his non-pitching arm.
Richards has pitched into the seventh inning in both starts - the only one on the staff to make it past the sixth in the team's first 16 games. The defending AL champion Tigers, who lost Friday night's series opener 8-1, were shut out for the third time this season and have produced only three runs in their last 42 innings - two of which came on groundouts.
Porcello (0-2) faced 11 batters, threw 47 pitches and got only two outs - on a double-play grounder by Chris Iannetta. The right-hander, who gave up an AL-worst 226 hits last season en route to a 10-12 record, has allowed 16 earned runs in 11 innings over his first three starts for a 13.09 ERA.
The Angels' first three batters got hits, all of them perfectly placed - an infield single that Peter Bourjos bounced over the mound, a ground single up the middle by Trout and an RBI hit by Albert Pujols.
A walk to Josh Hamilton loaded the bases and brought pitching coach Jeff Jones out for a chat with Porcello, whose next two pitches resulted in an RBI single by Mark Trumbo and a two-run single by Howie Kendrick. Brendan Harris delivered the fifth run with a two-out single, and the Angels loaded the bases again with infield hits by Luis Jimenez and Bourjos.
Trout then drove a 1-2 delivery into the trees beyond the center field fence for his second homer of the season. Detroit manager Jim Leyland finally replaced the shell-shocked Porcello with Drew Smyly, who gave up a double to Pujols before retiring Hamilton on a flyball.
The 10 first-inning hits set an Angels franchise record. It was their highest scoring inning since a nine-run sixth at Texas on July 30, 2012, and their most productive first inning since an 11-run string on June 29, 1995, also at Texas.
Trout, last season's AL rookie of the year, has nine RBIs over his last three games after driving in only two in his first 13. Last year he didn't get called up from the minors until April 28, and still finished with 30 home runs, 83 RBIs, a .326 average and a league-high 129 runs scored in 139 games.
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