Mike Trout home run daily: Swimming upstream

Today’s Mike Trout home run was late in the season in 2018, but was only a small part of this particular game.

September 20, 2018 was a Thursday afternoon rubber game between the Angels and Athletics in Oakland, with the Halos trying to avenge a 10-0 drubbing the night before.

Trout’s home run came in the sixth inning against Edwin Jackson, who was then on his 13th of a record 14 major league teams and counting. This was a 435-foot shot into the second deck in left field, Trout’s 36th homer of the season.

All three of Trout’s three career hits against Jackson (in seven at-bats) were for extra bases, including two home runs.

But by the time Trout homered in this one, the game was long since decided. Oakland scored five runs in the third inning, seven runs in the fourth, and six runs in the sixth, all part of a 21-3 drubbing. Believe it or not, the Angels led this game 1-0 before things turned dark.

Twenty-one runs is the most allowed by the Angels in any game so far in Trout’s career, and was part of a dismal week. The Angels lost four straight, by a combined score of 52-11. This loss to Oakland was the second of four straight games allowing 10 or more runs, the longest in franchise history.

No other Angels team allowed double-digit runs in more than two consecutive games.

The last two of those four straight losses also featured a Trout home run, to be featured on an upcoming episode of the Mike Trout home run daily.