Trout had surgery to avoid only being a DH

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Mike Trout decided that having surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee was a better alternative than postponing the procedure and being a designated hitter the rest of the season.

“It was an option they put out there. It would have been just maintaining the pain level of it,” the Los Angeles Angels slugger said before Thursday’s game against the Kansas City Royals. “The day I got the MRI and it showed that I was in a lot of pain. It would have been a tough road for the rest of the year to bear that.” Trout has also struggled whenever he has been a designated hitter. In 1,518 career games, he has been the DH only 81 times and has a .214 batting average.

Trout — who is sidelined with a major injury for the fourth straight season — still doesn’t know when the latest one occurred. He underwent surgery last Friday, when the Angels began a six-game road trip.

The three-time AL MVP led the majors with 10 home runs at the time of the injury. He also was batting .220 with 14 RBIs and six stolen bases.

Odds and ends

A 45-year-old man has pleaded guilty in the theft of a bronze Jackie Robinson statue that was cut off at the ankles and found days later smoldering in a trash can in a city park in Kansas. Ricky Alderete entered the plea during his arraignment Thursday. … Texas Rangers reliever Josh Sborz was placed on the 15-day injured list for the second time this season on Thursday because of a right rotator cuff strain. Sborz faced only two batters when pitching in the second game of the Rangers’ doubleheader at Oakland on Wednesday.