Trout tees off on Chicago White Sox in Angels' 12-3 win
Over his first six full major-leagues seasons, Mike Trout has twice been voted American League MVP and he has finished second three times.
The Los Angeles Angels' center fielder showed why in Saturday night's 12-3 win over the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field.
“Trout's obviously a special person in terms of what he brings to the lineup,” Sox manager Rick Renteria said.
While he is having a bit of an off year by his standards, Trout was 5-for-5 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI in the Angels' romp over the White Sox. The 5 hits matched his career high.
Both of Trout's homers were off Sox starter James Shields, who was shelled for 6 runs on 9 hits and 1 walk in 4⅓ innings. Trout now has 6 career home runs off the veteran right-hander.
“He seems to get me quite often, unfortunately,” Shields said. “I actually was going to throw a fastball in, and we ended up setting up outside and just got a little miscommunication right there on the first home run. On the second home run, we had a base open, I was trying to throw a curveball in the dirt and just hung it.
“He's one of the best hitters in the game, if not the best hitter. You can't really do that to that guy.”
The Sox were guilty of 5 wild pitches in a game that dragged on for 3 hours, 45 minutes. Rookie reliever Thyago Vieira threw 3 wild pitches in the ninth inning while giving up 2 runs.
“It was a bit of a rough one today for Shieldsy, early,” Renteria said. “It looked like he was having a little bit of trouble; he left some pitches out over the plate and obviously they got them. I thought the relief, obviously up until the end, did a really nice job just kind of keeping us there.”
Abreu update:
Out since Aug. 20 and recovering well from testicle surgery, White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu took batting practice Saturday.
Abreu wanted to return to the Sox's lineup this weekend, but manager Rick Renteria is likely to wait until Monday.
“We'll see how he feels (Sunday) after doing his groundball work and a little more activity,” Renteria said. “He could potentially be in the lineup Monday. In the morning, we'll discuss it and see how he's doing.”
Roster move:
After officially placing Michael Kopech on the 60-day disabled list Saturday with an ulnar collateral ligament sprain in his right elbow, the White Sox purchased the contract of 31-year-old relief pitcher Rob Scahill from Class AAA Charlotte.
A Lombard native and Willowbrook High School and Bradley University product, Scahill was 3-4 with a 5.64 ERA and 5 saves in 52 appearances with Charlotte this season.
The right-hander has made 118 career relief appearances with the Rockies (2012-14), Pirates (2015-16) and Brewers (2016-17) and is 5-7 with a 3.79 ERA.