TORONTO _ The first two pitches Mike Trout saw from Marco Estrada on Wednesday at Rogers Centre were strikes. So Trout settled in. He fouled a pitch off, watched three balls go by, then tracked a changeup down below the strike zone and golfed it for a home run.
It raised Trout's statistics after 0-and-2 counts this season to .302/.356/.583 in 104 plate appearances. And it was most of what the Los Angeles Angels needed to rout Toronto, 8-2. But Albert Pujols launched a solo shot two pitches later, and the Angels piled on three more runs off Estrada in the second inning and one last one in the fourth. They added a couple more off Blue Jays relievers, just as Toronto later did to them.
First, Matt Shoemaker turned in his best start in a month, holding the Blue Jays to two singles, a double and a walk over six scoreless innings. He struck out three and brought his cumulative earned-run average below 4.00.
Pujols' home run was the 584th of his career, pushing him ahead of Mark McGwire with the 10th most in the sport's history. It was the 30th time that Trout and Pujols had homered in the same game.
Catcher Jett Bandy was an additional standout for the Angels, amassing his first four-hit game as the Angels moved to 53-73 on the season.
