Trout Has 1st 5-Hit Game, Helping Angels Clobber Yankees
NEW YORK (AP) — Mike Trout homered and doubled three times during his first five-hit game in the majors, and the Los Angeles Angels quickly erased an early deficit in beating the New York Yankees 11-4 on Saturday night.
Playing not far from his southern New Jersey hometown, Trout went deep for the third straight game to tie Boston's Mookie Betts for the big league lead with 17 home runs. The two-time MVP drove in four runs and set career bests with four extra-base hits and 11 total bases.
Trout added an infield single and finished 5 for 5, including a two-run homer off shaky starter Sonny Gray (3-4) in the fourth that put the Angels ahead 5-4 after they trailed by three following the second inning.
Jose Briceno homered in his major league debut for Los Angeles, and rookie Jaime Barria (4-1) returned from the minors to win his third consecutive major league decision.
Brett Gardner and Aaron Judge began the bottom of the first with back-to-back homers for the Yankees, who lost for only the third time in their last 17 home games. Austin Romine poked a two-run shot the other way off the right-field foul pole that made it 4-1 in the second.
Barria settled down after that and lasted five innings. He gave up six hits and struck out four before the Los Angeles bullpen delivered four scoreless innings of one-hit ball.
Coming off his best outing of the season, eight dominant innings at Kansas City, the inconsistent Gray took a step back. He was charged with five runs, seven hits and three walks in 3 2/3 innings.
Trout hit an RBI double off the left-field wall in the first and a ringing double to right in the third. After his homer in the fourth, he had an RBI double to left-center in the sixth and an infield single to deep shortstop in the seventh.
Albert Pujols had a two-run single as the Angels broke it open in a four-run sixth.
OHTANI WATCH
Shohei Ohtani threw a bullpen before the game and then went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts and a bases-loaded walk as the designated hitter. Ohtani also grounded into a double play that scored a run. He initially was lined up to pitch Sunday against Japanese countryman Masahiro Tanaka, but the two-way rookie sensation was pushed back by the Angels to manage his workload. Ohtani would seem likely to be the DH against Tanaka on Sunday, though skipper Mike Scioscia wouldn't commit to that. Ohtani appears to be tracking toward making his next start on the mound Wednesday in Detroit, but the team has not made any announcement.
MAGIC MOMENT
Called up Sunday from Triple-A Salt Lake, Briceno enjoyed quite a major league debut — at Yankee Stadium, no less — after eight-plus seasons in the minors. With his parents on hand from all the way back home in Venezuela, the 25-year-old backup catcher started and lined a fourth-inning single for his first career hit. He was thrown out stretching on the play as he tumbled into second base with an awkward rolling slide. But he walked and scored in the sixth before hitting a two-run homer off Chasen Shreve in the seventh.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Angels: LF Justin Upton exited with a bruised left forearm, two innings after he was hit by a pitch from Gray. X-rays were negative.
Yankees: 1B Greg Bird was reinstated from the disabled list and went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts in his season debut. Bird had been sidelined since having surgery on his right ankle March 27. ... OF Jacoby Ellsbury, out all season with oblique, foot and hip injuries, has a new problem — his back. He isn't participating in baseball activities at the team's complex in Florida but is receiving treatment, GM Brian Cashman told reporters.
UP NEXT
Angels: RHP Garrett Richards (4-3, 3.31 ERA) starts the series finale Sunday on his 30th birthday. Richards is 0-4 with an 8.10 ERA in six career games, five starts, against the Yankees. They tagged him for a season-high nine runs — five earned — over 1 2/3 innings on April 28 at home.
Yankees: Masahiro Tanaka (5-2, 4.95) is 2-0 in five career starts against the Angels, with New York winning all five games. His 1.60 ERA is his lowest against any opponent he's faced more than once. Unbeaten in his last six outings overall, the right-hander permitted only two hits in six innings and struck out a season-high nine to beat Richards 11-1 last month.
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