Rarely injured Trout sits it out
Mike Trout started every one of the team’s first 92 games, 89 in center field and three at designated hitter, playing 805 of a possible 817 innings at the breakneck pace he’s maintained for four years.
Considering the way Trout dives into gaps, leaps into and over walls and slides headfirst into bases, it’s a wonder he doesn’t suffer the kinds of bumps and bruises that would knock him out of the lineup on occasion.
But as the Angels learned Tuesday, Trout, who played 157 out of a possible 162 games in both 2013 and 2014, is not immune to injury. A somewhat mysterious sore left heel knocked him out of Tuesday night’s 7-0 win over the Twins.
“I don’t know what happened,” said Trout, who played the outfield in the first game of Monday’s doubleheader sweep of the Boston Red Sox and was the DH for the second game, when he hit his 28th homer.
“I don’t recall banging it on anything, slipping in the field. When I woke up [Tuesday], it didn’t feel right. Just walking on it, it was aching. But I got treatment today, and it’s already a lot better than it was this morning, so I definitely will try to be in there” Wednesday night.
When the original lineup was posted Tuesday afternoon, neither Trout nor slugger Albert Pujols, who leads the major leagues with 29 homers, were in it.
Manager Mike Scioscia had scheduled Pujols for a day off, but when Pujols learned Trout was hurt, he told Scioscia he was OK to play and joined the lineup as DH.
“We had been looking for a day off for Albert for a while, but knowing Mike’s condition, Albert felt like he could play,” Scioscia said. “When you approach Albert about a day off, he balks all the time, and I think that’s one of the things that makes him a special player.”
Neither Trout, who is batting .307 with a .400 on-base percentage, .614 slugging percentage, 57 runs batted in and 71 runs, nor Scioscia believes the injury is serious. Scioscia chalked it up to “one of those things that just come up from playing the game of baseball.”
But Scioscia did express some concern about the cumulative effect of Trout’s heavy workload.
“There are a lot of guys early in their career who are really strong through 155-162 games, and Mike has shown he’s one of those guys,” Scioscia said. “You’re always listening to your body, and as Mike gets experience, he will understand more and more when he needs a day off.
“I think our training and coaching staffs are very well connected with how guys are feeling, what guys might benefit from a day off, and this is certainly a day where Mike needs to take a half-step backward and hopefully it will feel better tomorrow.”