Mike Trout home run daily: First Player of the Month

Today’s Mike Trout home run came in the middle of his rookie season, in the middle of the first month in which Trout was named American League Player of the Month.

On July 19, 2012 the Angels were in Detroit, the final game of a four-game series on getaway day against the Tigers.

Trout struck out against Max Scherzer in the first and third innings, but led off the sixth with a home run just over the bullpens in left field, his 14th home run of the season.

Scroll to 3:21 of this video to watch:

That’s Trout’s only home run off Scherzer, against whom he is 3-for-16 (.188) with 10 strikeouts in his career. That was the only run Scherzer allowed that day in seven innings, in a 5-1 win for Detroit.

Trout was on absolute fire in this series, going 7-for-18 (.389) with two home runs, a triple, and six runs scored in four games. It was part of an incredible July, in which Trout scored a run in 15 consecutive games. This was the 11th game of that streak.

In July, Trout scored 32 runs in 25 games, hitting .392/.455/.804 with 10 home runs, six doubles, two triples, and 23 runs batted in. That was good enough for Trout to win American League Player of the Month for the first of five times, so far, in his career.