Since Mike Trout broke onto the scene as the Best Player In Baseball in 2012, each Angels season has begun with the creeping worry that this will be the year he stops being a perennial 10-win player. Thankfully, that year appears to still be far into the future, at least beyond 2016.
Trout got a slow start to the season but has been on an absolute tear the last two weeks, improving his season line to .317/.400/.596 with an RBI triple and a clutch, game-tying home run in the eighth on Wednesday. Trout now sits in his familiar position as the American League WAR leader, with 2.0 wins through 28 games, and boasts nine RBI in his last four games. Dude is stupid good.
Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1OQak3e3ynYaxz6UqWsGcaTw-FjqO_nJHyoiuG4JbRjY/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”389″ /]Trout had the biggest offensive day, but he wasn’t the only contributor. Johnny Giavotella got a little of his late-inning magic back, driving in two insurance runs with a single in the eighth. C.J. Cron, meanwhile, continues to be the Angels’ most reliable hitter with runners in scoring position: His go-ahead, pinch-hit double in the eighth improved his numbers to 10-for-19 with RISP on the year. Kole Calhoun had a three-hit day, his second of the week. The team has now tallied nine hits or more in seven of its last eight games.
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1OQak3e3ynYaxz6UqWsGcaTw-FjqO_nJHyoiuG4JbRjY/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /]The heroes of Tuesday’s game had a terrible time at the plate on Wednesday. Jonathan Lucroy and Chris Carter combined to go 0-for-8 on the day, leaving five runners on base each. Unheralded players Hernan Perez and Alex Presley had the best games for the Brewers, with the former homering and the latter reaching three times. After Santiago left, Milwaukee’s offense did squat.
Starting Pitcher Scores
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1OQak3e3ynYaxz6UqWsGcaTw-FjqO_nJHyoiuG4JbRjY/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /]Hector Santiago reverted to his inefficient, frustrating self on Wednesday, walking four batters on 116 pitches in just 5⅓. He gets points for escaping jams in the first and fifth innings, but that’s about it. Will the Angels ever have a starter get through the sixth inning ever again? Maybe!
Zach Davies wasn’t overwhelming, but he still managed to lock down his first quality start of the season thanks to a crisp curveball and some strong defense behind him. Amazing what 12-year-olds can do these days.
Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1OQak3e3ynYaxz6UqWsGcaTw-FjqO_nJHyoiuG4JbRjY/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /]Cam Bedrosian would have escaped the bases-loaded jam Santiago left for him in the sixth, but for an errant curveball. It wasn’t really a bad pitch to be honest, it just took a bad hop off of Geovany Soto‘s chest protector. Allowing just one run in that situation is still pretty good, so points to Bedrock for that. Fernando Salas followed with a scoreless inning, then Joe Smith came in for the two-inning save, looking better than he has all season.
Tyler Thornburg got bashed around for four runs in the eighth, earning him both a blown save and the loss. His ERA ballooned from 2.61 to 5.73 as a result. Tough day.
Game Flow
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1OQak3e3ynYaxz6UqWsGcaTw-FjqO_nJHyoiuG4JbRjY/pubchart” query=”oid=451609002&format=interactive” width=”619″ height=”316″ /]The Angels’ second comeback victory of the week. Looked a little scary after the seventh, but then Trout happened.
Halo Hero
He’s just hitting .407/.467/.833 over his last 60 plate appearances. No big.
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