Mike Trout hit his first home run at the start of a game since 2012, and the Los Angeles Angels won against the Baltimore Orioles 7-4 on Tuesday night, ending a streak of losing five games.
Zach Neto had two hits and brought in two runs, with the Angels’ hitters from sixth to ninth position combining for eight out of their 11 hits and five RBIs.
“I hope what we did tonight is something that we can just build on. It was just a matter of time,” manager Ron Washington said. “It was nice to see some offense. Everybody got involved, there was a lot of energy, so we just got to keep it going.”
Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson hit a long home run of 414 feet in the seventh inning, and Adley Rutschman got three hits.
Griffin Canning (1-3), who gave up 18 runs (17 earned) in 19 innings in his first four starts, allowed three runs on five hits in five innings and struck out four. It was his first win in 11 starts dating back to last season.
Carlos Estévez closed out the ninth inning to secure his fourth save in five opportunities.
“It was nice to go out there with that lead and know that the offense was going to keep adding on,” Canning said. “Mike set the tone right away, and we didn’t look back.”
Trout, batting first for the first time since 2020, hit a fastball from Baltimore’s Grayson Rodriguez (3-1) off the auxiliary scoreboard above the wall in right-center field in the first inning to give the Angels the lead.
It was Trout’s sixth home run at the start of a game in his career and the first since Sept. 28, 2012. It was his ninth home run of the season, tying him for the lead in the major leagues.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 11 years and 208 days between consecutive leadoff homers is the second-longest span in MLB history. The longest is 12 years, 286 days by Omar Vizquel.
The Angels had six extra-base hits — including RBI doubles by Luis Rengifo, Logan O’Hoppe, and Neto — as they took a 7-0 lead after four innings.
Neto, Jo Adell, and Nolan Schanuel had singles to bring in runs as the Angels scored two runs in the second, third, and fourth innings. The Orioles scored three runs in the fifth inning on Henderson’s sacrifice fly and Ryan O’Hearn’s two-run double.
