Mike Trout home run daily: Going deep against the Rangers

Hello again from the Mike Trout home run daily, where we look back at every single home run of Mike Trout’s major league career — regular season, postseason, All-Star Games — one game at a time. We use a random number generator to select each game, and today brings us to July 18, 2016.

The Angels were home, starting their second series after the All-Star break on a Monday night against the Rangers.

A.J. Griffin started for Texas, and Trout has three career home runs against him, though none in this game. Trout was 1-for-2 with a hit by pitch against Griffin, and scored in the sixth inning to give the Angels a 5-4 lead.

After the Rangers tied things, Kole Calhoun drove in a run in the seventh to regain the lead for the Halos, and set up Trout with two on against reliever Keone Kela. Trout blasted a ball that bounced into and over the Angels bullpen, extending the lead to 9-5. That was the final score.

This was the 19th home run of the season for Trout, and 158th of his career. Two of Trout’s previous three home runs vaulted him into sixth place on the Angels’ all-time home run list, passing Bobby Grich and Chili Davis.

Against Kela in his career, Trout is 5-for-7 (.714).