Mike Trout has been slumping lately, but the Los Angeles Angels outfielder had a statement game last night in New York.
Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout turned back the clock last night in the Bronx with a pair of home runs, but he was outdone by Aaron Judge, who also hit a pair of bombs as the New York Yankees won an 11-10 slugfest as the winning run came home on a walk-off walk to Ryan McMahon.
The Angels are getting a well-earned reputation for playing entertaining games, and this one featured two powerful offenses trading home-run haymakers. Judge hit his first blast in the first inning off Angels starter Yusei Kikuchi as he also brought home Paul Goldschmidt, and Jose Caballero punctuated Judge’s homer with a two-run shot of his own to put the Angels down 4-0.
But the Angels weren’t about to roll over. Instead they rolled out a four-run rally that featured RBI hits by Jorge Soler, Jo Adell and Logan O’Hoppe to make it 4-3, and the tying run scored on a bases-loaded walk to Zach Neto as they knocked out Yankees starter Will Warren.
The next entry in the home run derby contest came from Trent Grisham, who hit a three-run homer as a pinch hitter in the fifth to make it 7-4. Trout countered with a three-run shot of his own into the Angels bullpen to tie it up at 7-7, but Judge put the Yankees up 8-7 with his second homer of the night
The Angels came back yet again on a sacrifice fly by Josh Lowe to tie it 8-8, and Trout got his second of the night to make it 10-8, Halos. But closer Jordan Romero couldn’t nail it down in the ninth, as Grisham homered again to tie the game again, and a double by Caballero keyed the rally that led to the final walk to win the game.
Trout and Judge were the stars in this one, though. Both sluggers got pitched inside and responded with homers, and they tipped their hats to each other with complementary quotes after the game.
“He’s the greatest, the greatest of all time,” Judge said with a smile postgame in a piece written by Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. “ … I know he’s had some tough injuries over the years, but to see himself back in a better spot this year -- every time he comes to the Bronx, man, he puts on a show. I hate to see it, but it’s fun competing against a guy like that.”
Trout also just missed hitting a grand slam with a fly ball to the warning track, and he kept the Angels bullpen busy retrieving his bombs, both of when landed in the Halos ‘pen.
“It was definitely a battle,” Trout said. “A fun one to be part of. The loss is disappointing, but we fought throughout the whole game and we battled back and had great at-bats all game from up and down the lineup. To go blow for blow like that back and forth with both teams, it's pretty cool.”