Matt Shoemaker + actual run support = Angels destroy Blue Jays 8-2. Who would have thought?

The Angels had Matt Shoemaker on the mound tonight, and if you’ve got your brain set to Halos Logic, then you probably came to the quick conclusion that Shoemaker would probably pitch well, but the Angels would fail to give him runs and they’d ultimately lose.

Luckily, every once in awhile, the team decides to do away with the Shoemaker run shunning, and they instead back up their bearded bro with a veritable hit parade. To be exact, 5 out of Matt Shoemaker’s 25 starts this year have had the Angels scoring 3 or more runs. That’s it. Tonight was one of those nights, as the Angels walloped the Blue Jays to the tune of 8-2, on 17 hits. Dang.

The mood was set early, in the very first inning, when Mike Trout and Albert Pujols hit solo blasts, putting the Angels up 2-0 in a hurry. That was the 30th time the daring duo have homered in the same game (the most of any Angels duo), and it was also the homer that gave Albert Pujols sole possession of 10th place on the all-time homer run list.

From their, the Angels rode high in the saddle behind six excellent, scoreless innings from Shoemaker, in which he only gave up three hits, and an avalanche of hits and runs coming from every corner of the lineup. Jett Bandy had himself a four hit night, Pujols finished with four hits and three RBIs, Andrelton Simmons and Kaleb Cowart had some big hits, Kole Calhoun got a couple hits and a couple walks...oh, and Mike Trout had his normal Mike Trout-looking stat line (3-5, 2 runs, 1 RBI, 1 BB).

This was a near-flawless, well-rounded, team effort, something that has become increasingly rare in this scary month of August, but a win is a win. They snapped an 11 game road losing streak in the process, so we’ve got a lot to hang our battered Angels caps on this evening. Enjoy this one, folks.