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Today’s entry in the Mike Trout home run daily was six years ago, one of six grand slams in his career.
On June 7, 2014, the Angels hosted the White Sox in the middle contest of a three-game weekend series.
Chris Sale was dominating in this game, having allowed three singles and a walk through seven innings, and he was cruising, facing the minimum in five of his first seven frames, with just 93 total pitches. The White Sox were leading 5-0 in the middle of the eighth inning, but then all hell broke loose.
A double, two singles, and an error brought home one run, and loaded the bases for Trout. After a nine-pitch at-bat ended in a single for Howie Kendrick, Trout ran the count full then crushed a ball to just in front of the rock formation in center field, tying the game at 5-5.
The grand slam was Trout’s 12th home run of the season, and the 74th of his career. It remains his only home run against Sale, in 25 plate appearances. It chased Sale from the game, but the Angels continued to rally, with three more singles against reliever Jake Petrica for the winning run.
From the Associated Press game recap:
“I was just (using a) two-strike approach,” he said. “I wasn’t trying to hit a home run, but it went out. The first two swings I was thinking home run, that’s why I fouled them off. You try to get too big in situations you lose mechanics of your swing. That 3-2 pitch I just told myself to stay up the middle and put the ball in play.”
Trout was 1-for-3 with a walk in the game.