Ohtani’s threerun homer lifts Angels over Indians.
ANAHEIM » The Angels lost one of their superstars to an injury Monday night.
Their other superstar picked him up.
Mike Trout strained his right calf running the bases before Shohei Ohtani hit a thunderous three-run home run in the Angels’ 7-4 win over the Cleveland Indians.
Trout walked in his only plate appearance, advanced to second base on a wild pitch, and was stranded before limping off the field as the first inning ended. The 29-year-old center fielder missed three games in April with a swollen left elbow after being hit by a pitch. Otherwise he hasn’t missed a game this season.
A three-time Most Valuable Player, Trout leads the major leagues in on-base percentage (.462) and onbase plus slugging (1.086).
Two days before his next scheduled pitching assignment, Ohtani hit his majorleague leading 13th home run. Indians left-hander Sam Hentges picked a relatively safe location for a 94mph fastball — roughly the height of the halo around the “A” on the front of Ohtani’s jersey — only to see it leave the park over the right-field video boards.
Ohtani had homered in his previous game too, going over the Green Monster to beat the Boston Red Sox in the ninth inning Sunday. His arm wasn’t needed Monday.
In his first start of 2021, pitcher Patrick Sandoval gave the Angels (18-22) four strong innings. Six relievers finished the job to begin a 10-game homestand before an announced crowd of 9,527 at Angel Stadium.
The Angels were 2-10 against left-handed starting pitchers entering the homestand, but they wasted little time Monday against southpaw Sam Hentges. A 24-year-old making his sixth major league appearance, Hentges allowed six runs in 1-2/3 innings before Terry Francona dipped into his bullpen.
In the first inning, Hentges issued two walks, threw one wild pitch, and threw another pitch that was scored a passed ball. The Angels got a run when Anthony Rendon hit slow a ground ball and Ohtani scored from third base.
The Angels sent 10 batters to the plate in the second inning. Five scored, giving the Angels a 6-1 lead and giving Sandoval a comfortable margin for error.
Phil Gosselin greeted Hentges with a double and went to third base on a Jose Iglesias single. Juan Lagares doubled, clearing the bases and giving the Angels a 3-1 lead. Taylor Ward’s one-out walk set the stage for Ohtani’s eye-high rocket launch — his majorleague leading 13th home run of the season.
Two batters later, Francona hobbled out of the dugout and called on reliever Trevor Stephan to stop the bleeding.
Cleveland added another run in the third inning against Sandoval, and chased him with back-toback singles to begin the fifth. Left-hander Tony Watson (2-1), the first pitcher out of the Angels’ bullpen, eluded further trouble by striking out Cesar Hernandez, Jake Bauers and Jose Ramirez in order.
Sandoval’s four-inning start was his longest of the season. The Mission Viejo native is the second pitcher to start in place of Alex Cobb — Junior Guerra opened a bullpen game last week — and he might get another start if Cobb needs more time to recover from a finger blister.
Hunter Strickland, Steve Cishek, Alex Claudio, Mike Mayers and Raisel Iglesias combined to allow five hits over the final four innings. Iglesias was credited with his seventh save of the season. Rendon finished 3 for 4. Jared Walsh went 2 for 4.