Trout hits it out everywhere but Boston

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Mike Trout has triumphed over most of baseball during the stellar start to his career. But one of the few things Trout hasn’t conquered is one of the game’s most iconic structures: the Green Monster.

The Boston Red Sox’s ballpark is the only American League stadium in which Trout has not homered. He has at least four home runs at every other AL park.

He is batting .371 with a .957 onbase-plus-slugging percentage in 79 plate appearances at Fenway Park. Yet, the player who began Monday tied for the major league lead in home runs has been unable to clear Boston’s 37-foot high leftfield wall.

The Angels start a three-game series in Boston on Tuesday. The last time the teams met, in Anaheim in April, the Red Sox swept three straight by the score of 27-3.

The thrashing came at the end of a season-opening stretch in which Boston went 17-2.

Since that series, the Angels have struggled to maintain any sort of consistency while falling into third place in the AL West. The Red Sox began the week tied atop the AL East.

In the opener, the Angels will face David Price, a pitcher against whom Trout has never homered. In 23 at-bats, Trout has four singles.

Have glove, will travel

He worked for parts of four seasons to reach the big leagues, a natural middle infielder willing to play third base to help make it happen.

Then David Fletcher joined the Angels and soon found himself standing in right field, a position he had never played at any level.

Because a sprained index finger has prevented Trout from playing in the field, Fletcher has twice moved to the outfield late in games. He has appeared there for a total of four innings.

“He’s athletic,” manager Mike Scioscia said. “He’s got really good foot speed. We figured he could handle it for an inning or two in dire situations.”

Before moving from third base to right field in the eighth inning last week against Arizona, Fletcher’s only action in the outfield had come during batting practice.

He caught his first fly ball Saturday against Toronto, a play that forced him to retreat toward the warning track. Afterward, cameras caught him smiling in the direction of Kole Calhoun.

“Guess I was relieved,” Fletcher explained.

Said Scioscia: “He was in between the ball and the ground. That’s good.”

Short hop

Garrett Richards (hamstring) was scheduled to throw lightly off a mound Monday for the first time since he went on the disabled list June 15. Richards, who isn’t traveling with the team, is trying to ramp up to a rehabilitation start.