The Los Angeles Angels on Saturday started early and then kept piling on the runs. The only question was how many they would finish with.
Mike Trout, Brandon Drury and Matt Thaiss hit homers on consecutive pitches to open a 13-run third inning and Mickey Moniak capped it win a two-run homer in the Angels’ record-setting 25-1 rout of the Colorado Rockies.
The Angels set franchise marks for runs, hits (28) and margin of victory in a game and tied team records for runs and homers with their huge third inning.
Photo: AFP
The margin of victory was tied for the third-highest in the majors since 1900, behind Texas’s 30-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles in 2007 and the Boston Red Sox’s 29-4 victory over the St Louis Browns in 1950.
“We were aggressive,” Angels manager Phil Nevin said. “We attacked pitches in the zone. Hitting gets contagious at times. Big boys get into something like that [in the third], it fires up the clubhouse.”
David Fletcher hit a three-run homer to cap an eight-run fourth, as the Angels scored 21 runs on 17 hits in the third and fourth innings combined, sending 27 batters to the plate. Fletcher had three hits and five RBIs in his first game since being recalled from Salt Lake City.
Photo: Robert Edwards-USA Today
“I don’t think I’ve seen anything like that, honestly,” Fletcher said. “Starting with three homers in a row, pretty unbelievable. Hopefully we saved some for tomorrow.”
Hunter Renfroe and Mickey Moniak each had five hits and four RBIs for the Angels, who ended a three-game skid in a big way.
Moniak stumbled around second base on a liner to center field in the sixth inning or his second double likely would have been a triple for the cycle.
“Just one after the other, the quality of at-bats we had today — incredible,” Moniak said. “To be able to do that in that [third] inning and the whole game was what led to a historic day.”
In California, the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Taiwanese-American outfielder Corbin Carroll recorded his first error in center field this season, after dropping Thairo Estrada’s fly ball in their 7-6 loss to the San Francisco Giants.
It was Carroll’s second error in 31 career games in center field. He was playing the position after manager Torey Lovullo gave Alek Thomas the day off.
Carroll, who is third in runs for the National League, advanced to phase two of MLB All-Star Game voting, MLB.com reported.
Teammate Joe Mantiply told the site that Carroll, whose mother is Taiwanese, “is a no-brainer” for the All-Star squad.
Diamondback’s pitcher Zac Gallen said he case for Corbin is “obvious.”
“If you’re a baseball fan and not aware of the great things this kid is doing, you must be living under a rock,” Gallen told MLB.com. “I could go through all the reasons and stats, but I feel like people should know that Corbin is an All-Star.”
The second phase of voting begins today, and the All-Star starters are to be revealed on Thursday.
Elsewhere, on Saturday, it was:
‧ Cubs 9, Cardinals 1
‧ Braves 6, Reds 6
‧ Dodgers 8, Astros 7
‧ Tigers 3, Twins 2
‧ Mets 4, Phillies 2
‧ Orioles 6, Mariners 4 (10i)
‧ Yankees 1, Rangers 0
‧ Blue Jays 7, Athletics 3
‧ White Sox 5, Red Sox 4
‧ Royals 9, Rays 4
‧ Marlins 4, Pirates 3 (11i)
‧ Guardians 4, Brewers 2
‧ Nationals 2, Padres 0
Additional reporting by staff writer
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