Mike Trout is officially back to being MIKE TROUT. The perennial MVP candidate went 2-for-3 with a double and crucial two-run home run off of Felix Hernandez on Saturday, improving his career line against King Felix to an absurd .368/.400/.706 with five home runs in 75 plate appearances.
The rest of the Angels offense again did a whole lot of nothing, but they didn’t need to thanks to Trout and another strong six innings from Hector Santiago, who is easily the team’s best starter right now.
Run Expectancy Rundown
Yet another multi-hit game from Mike Trout bumps his season line up to .302/.408/.508. Remember when he had a .570 OPS after the first week? Me neither. Rafael Ortega had a nice two-hit game out of the two spot, possibly the first time all year the Angels have had a No. 2 hitter reach more than once. (At least it feels that way.) Cliff Pennington got the scoring started with a solo shot off of Felix, which is hilarious. Albert Pujols is now hitless in his last 26 at-bats, which is a not hilarious career worst.
Nelson Cruz hit another donger, his second in two days. The only other hits off of Santiago were a single from Chris Iannetta and doubles from Ketel Marte and Franklin Gutierrez. Adam Lind added two singles later off of Angels relievers.
Starting Pitcher Scores
Hector Santiago pitched very well for the fourth time in four starts. His 3.38 K/BB ratio and 0.938 WHIP are easily the best of his career, and for once even FIP (3.89) agrees that he’s been pitching pretty well. He probably won’t hold batters to a 5.7 H/9 all year, but his other peripherals are good enough that it shouldn’t hurt him too bad when he does regress.
Felix Hernandez would have likely earned the 145th win of his career Saturday if not for Mike Trout. Instead, Felix settled for setting a new franchise strikeout record in his seven innings of work. His 2,166 K’s are 56th all time.
Bullpen Battle
The Angels got to stick to their best bullpen guns Saturday, and it paid off. Mike Morin, Greg Mahle, Joe Smith, and Huston Street shut down the M’s over the final three frames, earning Street his fifth save of the season. On the other side, the Halos finally got to a bullpen, tallying two hits, a walk, and an insurance run against Tony Zych.
Game Flow
Mike Trout saved the day in the sixth.
Halo Hero
Welcome back, Mike. We missed you.
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