DENVER — Mike Trout hit his 17th home run of the season, one of five long balls and a franchise-record 28 hits on Saturday night, as the Los Angeles Angels authored a historic 25-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.
Los Angeles’ run total also is a franchise record, and the 24-run differential is the largest win in Major League Baseball since the Texas Rangers defeated the Baltimore Orioles by 27 runs in 2007, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
Brandon Drury also homered and drove in four runs, matching the RBI total of teammate Hunter Renfroe in the win, which, according to ESPN Stats & Information research, tied for the third-largest margin by any team in the live ball era, a period that dates back to 1920.
“We were aggressive, we attacked pitches in the zone, and hitting gets contagious sometimes,” Angels manager Phil Nevin said. “To be honest, we found some holes, and then the big blows added on some runs.”
Colorado used four pitchers in the loss, and all of them allowed at least one run. Chase Anderson (0-2) started the game and allowed nine earned runs and 10 hits in just 2.2 innings of work. Matt Carasiti followed Anderson and allowed six runs on four hits in one-third of an inning.
“Location,” Colorado manager Bud Black said in response to what went wrong with Anderson’s start. “He’ll be the first to tell you, there’s too many balls from the midthigh to the belt. His style of pitching, there has to be balls at the knees and there has to be fastballs at the top of the zone. He has to move the ball in and out. And [tonight], there were just too many balls in the middle.”
David Fletcher, Matt Thaiss and Mickey Moniak also homered for the Angels, who snapped a three-game losing streak with authority. Trout’s, Drury’s and Thaiss’ homers came on consecutive pitches in Los Angeles’ 13-run third inning.
“It was fun,” Moniak said in his postgame, on-field interview. “We were putting together good at-bats, and that’s kind of just what we do as a team.”
Every Angels starter had at least one hit, one RBI and one run scored, but surprisingly absent from the outburst was Shohei Ohtani, who had just an RBI single in seven at-bats.
Griffin Canning (6-2) gave up four hits in six scoreless innings while striking out seven with a walk en route to the win. He has won his past four decisions, but only this one featured a historic level of run support.
“Today was just one of those days, where everyone was feeling good, and we were getting the right pitches to hit,” Moniak said. “And we were able to capitalize on it.”
In his postgame media availability, Nevin confirmed the Angels had acquired veteran corner infielder Mike Moustakas from the Rockies in a rare midseries trade.
Colorado received minor league right-hander Connor Van Scoyoc, who was 4-3 with a 2.76 ERA in 11 starts at Class A Tri-City this season.
Moustakas hit .270 with four homers and 17 RBIs in 37 games with the Rockies after joining them in spring training.
“We’ll mix and match and work it out,” said Nevin, whose team has lost infielders Anthony Rendon, Gio Urshela and Zach Neto to injuries in the past two weeks. “This week, the lineup hasn’t had the depth we have had all season. We feel like we have that now.”
Moustakas has been on five playoff teams and was the starting third baseman for Kansas City when the Royals won the 2015 World Series.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
