Trout, Moniak and Thaiss homer to help Angels beat Red Sox 4-0
Mike Trout had a two-run shot, Mickey Moniak homered for the second straight game, Griffin Canning pitched two-hit ball for seven innings and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Boston Red Sox 4-0 on Tuesday night.
Matt Thaiss also went deep for the Angels, who have won three straight and four of their last five.
Trout tied Joe DiMaggio for 85th on the career list with his 361st homer. The eighth-inning shot extended the Angels' advantage to 4-0.
"It's really special," Trout said about tying the Yankees great.
Moniak became the second player since 1974 to hit three leadoff homers in his first eight starts of a season. The only other player to accomplish that according to Sportradar was George Springer with Houston in 2017.
"It's incredible being able to do that a few times now since I came back up here," Moniak said. "I tried to give Griffin a little bit of a sense of relief and allow him to settle in."
It was only the fourth time in 50 starts that Canning has gone at least seven innings. The right-hander missed the final two months of 2021 and last season with a low back stress reaction.
"I think tonight's a big stepping stone for him. It has been two years and to finally get a good one under your belt you can run with it," manager Phil Nevin said.
Canning (3-2) struck out five and walked three as he retired eight straight at one point.
Matt Moore and Jacob Webb each threw a scoreless innings as the Angels completed their fifth shutout of the season.
"I was on a really good page with with Thaiss, the defense was awesome and I some timely hitting. So yeah, it was a lot of fun," Canning said.
The Red Sox were shut out for the second time in their last three games. They have been held to one run and two extra-base hits in their last 32 innings after scoring 31 runs with 19 extra-base hits in 34 innings.
"We didn't hit the ball in the air. It seems like we didn't make any adjustments throughout," manager Alex Cora said. "We didn't put pressure on them. The last three days we haven't done much."
Moniak — who is batting .419 with four home runs since being called up May 12 — drove a 94 mph fastball by Brayan Bello (3-2) over the batter's eye shrubs in center field on the second pitch of the bottom of the first. The outfielder's third leadoff homer also tied him with the Dodgers Mookie Betts and Milwaukee's Christian Yelich for the major league lead.
Bello had retired 10 straight before Thaiss extended the lead to 2-0. Bello left a sinker slightly elevated and Thaiss put it into the rock pile in center for his second of the season.
In the eighth, Trout went deep for the third time in his last six games to give the Angels some insurance. The three-time AL MVP is 6 for 20 during that span. He has 11 homers this season.
FOR STARTERS
Bello tied a career high with seven innings. He allowed two runs on six hits and struck out six.
Boston's starters have gone at least five innings in 24 of its last 26 games, including 11 of the last 12.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Red Sox: INF Yu Chang (left hamate fracture) has had his rehab assignment pushed back to at least Friday after he felt some soreness after taking batting practice Monday. Manager Alex Cora also said INF Christian Arroyo (right hamstring strain) is expected to start his rehab assignment this weekend.
UP NEXT
It's a matchup of left-handers in the series finale. Boston's James Paxton (1-0, 2.45 ERA) faces the Angels for the first time in five years. Los Angeles' Tyler Anderson (1-0, 5.27 ERA) has allowed 13 runs in 14 innings in May.
