Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Trout sees home run streak end at seven straight games, goes 0-for-3 against Cleveland Guardians
CLEVELAND — Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout‘s streak of consecutive games hitting a home run ended at seven, one shy of the major league record, and the AL Central-leading Cleveland Guardians beat Los Angeles 3-1 on Tuesday night.
Trout went 0-for-3 with three routine flyballs and a walk. The three-time AL MVP was chasing the mark of eight straight games with a home run, set by Pittsburgh’s Dale Long in 1956 and matched by Don Mattingly of the Yankees in 1987 and Seattle’s Ken Griffey Jr. in 1993.
Trout saw 17 pitches in the game, and only four of them (24%) were in the strike zone, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. That’s the second-lowest percentage of strikes he’s seen in a game this season.
Trout admitted the streak had been on his mind.
“I’m not going to lie,” he said. “I’ve been thinking about it, for sure. Everybody’s been texting me. You guys are asking me a bunch of questions. It’s kind of hard not to.”
Trout said a home run was especially in his thoughts when he batted against hard-throwing James Karinchak in the eighth that resulted in a fly to right on a 2-1 pitch.
“It’s the nature of things, I guess,” he said. “When I think home run, not good as you saw. I chased some pitches and was amped up too much. Got to start a new streak, I guess.”
Guardians manager Terry Francona wished Trout well before the game, to a certain extent.
“If I was a fan, I’d be glued to my seat in the hopes he would hit eight,” Francona said. “Since I’m glued to my seat there [in the dugout], I hope he doesn’t. But he’s good for the game. He’s actually great for the game.” Oscar Gonzalez’s two-run homer in the sixth broke a 1-all tie and gave Cleveland its fifth straight win. Jose Ramirez started the inning with a double and Gonzalez lined an 0-2 pitch from Jose Suarez (6-7) off the railing atop the wall in left field.
Gonzalez, one of several rookies who have made a major contribution in Cleveland’s surprising season, has eight home runs. Rookie Kirk McCarty (3-2) held Los Angeles to one hit in 3⅔ innings for Cleveland, which has won seven of eight.
Emmanuel Clase gave up a two-out single in the ninth, but struck out Matt Duffy and converted his 35th save in 38 chances.
Trout faced rookie Cody Morris in his first two at-bats. He flied out to center in the first and drew a four-pitch walk in the third with a runner on second.
Trout batted against McCarty, another rookie, in the fifth and flied out to center on a 3-2 pitch after the first three pitches were balls.
Trout was the first AL player with a seven-game home run streak since Kendrys Morales of Toronto in 2018. Cincinnati’s Joey Votto homered in seven straight last season from July 24-30.
Matt Thaiss hit a leadoff homer in the second off Morris. Luke Maile’s sacrifice fly tied the game in the fifth.
Duffy fielded Myles Straw’s grounder to third base in the fifth, but couldn’t get the ball out of his glove after two attempts and the play went for a hit.
Steven Kwan followed with a slow roller that came to a stop halfway up the third base line for another infield hit. Plate umpire John Tumpane, bending over to get a closer look, gave the fair signal as Thaiss, whose only hope was for the ball to roll foul, looked on.
Angels infielder David Fletcher didn’t start for the third day in a row because of a bruised right hand. Fletcher batted for Andrew Velazquez and bunted for a hit in the fifth. He also bunted for an out in the seventh.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.