5-4 - Rangers Trouted by Angels in 5-1 loss in Anaheim

Mike Trout was 5-for-17 with a couple of doubles, 5 BB, and 3 RBI on the road through Anaheim’s first six games before facing the Rangers. He’d also reached via a couple of HBPs in the season’s first week because, honestly, that’s possibly a valid, if not cowardly strategy for avoiding the fate that befell the Rangers this weekend.

Anyhow, that first week for Trout amounted to a .294 batting average, but the .480 OBP stands out as usual excellence. It’s a good way to open the year for anyone! Though, perhaps it’s a little disappointing for the richest professional sports player of all time and likely the best baseball player you’ll ever see.

“Two extra base hits? No dingers? This guy’s making almost half a billion dollars!” I can almost hear ‘em say. Turns out, he was just saving it up for the home crowd and, unfortunately, your favorite team.

Since then, against the Rangers, Trout has gone 5-for-9 with four home runs, 3 BB, 7 RBI in three games. His slash line is now .385/.553/.923 on the year. After a week of not slugging very much, now his slugging percentage alone would garner anyone MVP votes if it were their total OPS over a full season. So yeah, he’s probably not sweating that “slow” start.

Oh and today’s home run from Trout was a grand slam and, if you hadn’t noticed, the Rangers lost the game by four runs.

If it feels like it’s the Rangers versus Mike Trout and he’s still effortlessly, single-handedly beating them, that’s because it pretty much is and he has.

Player of the Game: Does a baseball player besides Mike Trout even exist and if so, could they possibly even matter?

Up Next: The Rangers close out this series against the Angels looking for a split with Shelby Miller scheduled for the afternoon start against RHP Chris Stratton for Anaheim. First pitch in the finale is scheduled once again for 3:05 pm CT.