In his first game back following the birth of his son, and in the debut of the Los Angeles Angels' most heralded prospect since his own MLB arrival, Mike Trout homered to key the Angels' 5-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday.
Trout hammered his solo shot in the first inning. Not long after, Angels fans got a glimpse of their future. Top prospect Jo Adell, added to the roster before the game, secured his first hit on a slow grounder to the left side of the infield. He sprinted out of the batter's box at a rate of 30.4 feet per second, according to MLB's Statcast system.
Adell and Trout went a combined two for seven. They'll have plenty of opportunities to wreak havoc together. Adell will play frequently. Manager Joe Maddon said veteran Justin Upton, who is batting .135 with two homers and five RBIs in the third year of his $106 million contract, will platoon with fellow outfielder Brian Goodwin.
Adell, 21, is one of MLB's brightest young talents. He began the season ranked as the league's second-best prospect by Baseball America's and sixth-best by MLB.com's Pipeline. The last Angels minor leaguer to receive that much hype before his debut was Mike Trout.
"He's a blank canvas with a lot of ability," Maddon said. "So I'm really looking forward to this."
Adell spent the coronavirus shutdown making a change. Batting cages weren't open in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, for most of the spring, but Adell focused on his mentality in the batter's box.
"The big difference was my mind-set," he said in a videoconference call before making his debut at T-Mobile Park. "Wasn't really anything swingwise. It was more, what am I trying to do when I get into the box? I realized my strength is (hitting to right-center field), so having that in back of my mind, knowing I can let the ball travel, I think it helped me make better decisions at the plate and allowed me to be more comfortable, not jumpy, and know that part of the field is open and I'm going to be able to hit balls that way.
"I don't have to go in there and try to pull the ball. Understanding my best hits that way allowed me to take better at-bats. And when you swing at pitches you want to swing at, the results are going to be better. That was the biggest thing for me."
Earlier in the day, Trout strolled into a room on the lower level of T-Mobile Park and positioned himself in front of a camera. He couldn't suppress joy as he spoke tenderly of the birth of his first child, Beckham Aaron. He praised his wife, calling Jessica "a champ. I don't know if I could have went through that. How brave she was and how strong _ she was pretty incredible." He didn't begrudge his exhaustion, evident under the smile.
"If somebody woke (me) up after couple hours sleep for no reason (before this), (I'd) be pretty upset," Trout said. "But when you hear him cry or something, any little movement, getting up (isn't) that hard. It's your little man."
Trout didn't seem to need the sleep anyway. He swung at just two of Mariners starter Justin Dunn's offerings in the first inning _ an 80 mph slider on the outer third of the plate and the pitch that followed. Trout barreled the 83 mph breaking ball with ease. It sailed 407 feet and over the center-field fence.
The homer was Trout's 25th in Seattle. No other visitor to T-Mobile Park has hit as many homers as Trout.
The Angels were nearly silenced after taking a 3-0 lead in the first. Trout and Luis Rengifo walked in the second but neither scored. Rengifo appeared to forget there was only one out and broke from second base when Anthony Rendon smacked a fly ball to right field. Seattle's Dylan Moore gloved Rendon's ball and doubled off Rengifo.
The Mariners retired 15 consecutive batters before the Angels reached base again. Rengifo broke the streak with a two-out single in the seventh. David Fletcher's subsequent homer put the Angels ahead 5-1 _ some necessary breathing room. The Angels haven't captured any victories in games they have scored fewer than four runs.
The Angels bullpen nearly ruined a chance for starter Andrew Heaney, who gave up one run on three hits and four walks in 5 2/3 innings, to earn his first victory. Moore sliced a solo home run into the left field corner off Keynan Middleton in the seventh. With Felix Pena on the mound an inning later, Seattle's Kyle Lewis doubled off the top of the right-field fence and scored on a two-out bloop single. Ty Buttrey took Pena's place and induced a sharp ground ball. Rengifo smothered it on the cut of the outfield grass and flipped it to first for the final out.
Nothing else threatened the Angels, who improved to 4-7. Buttrey remained in the game for his first save of the season, signaling a change in roles for struggling reliever Hansel Robles.
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