What a cool request! Trout had already agreed to give Alberto — who attended the game with his wife and two children — three signed bats and two signed baseballs in exchange for the ball he crushed.
While Trout signed the balls and bats in the dugout long after the game had ended, Alberto politely asked him while making a throwing motion with his right arm, "You mind if we play catch with a ball on the field?" the three-time American League Most Valuable Player didn't hesitate, saying, "Yeah, you want to do it?" Alberto grabbed his glove.
The fan who caught and returned Mike Trout's 400th home run ball had one small request from the 3-time MVP.
A post on the MLB.com X account shows Alberto tossing the ball back and forth to Trout, who catches it with his bare hands while wearing his cap backward. At one point, Trout says something to Alberto's young son, who is watching in awe.
And no wonder. Shortly before Trout hit No. 400, Alberto told Trout he'd turned to his son and said, "He's got a lot of power." No kidding, enough to drive the ball deep into the left-center field stands. Alberto caught the blast with his bare hands.
It was Trout's third home run of at least 485 feet since Statcast began tracking long balls in 2015, the most of any player. The 34-year old outfielder in his 15th season became the 59th MLB player to reach 400 homers and the 20th to hit them all with one franchise.
The No. 400 ball clearly had more monetary value than the signed balls and bats, but nowhere near the value of a career 500 home run ball or, say, the home run the Dodgers' Freddie Freeman hit to win Game 1 of the 2024 World Series — which was sold at auction for $1.56 million.
The home run was meaningful to Trout, who admitted to feeling pressure as he approached the milestone. It was only his second long ball since Aug. 7.
He also recognized that catching the ball and returning it to the player who belted it was meaningful to Alberto, who likely has already done what dads do — play catch with his children.
"Once they get older and realize, that'll be an awesome memory for the dad to tell the kids, to experience that," Trout told reporters. "I know how I felt when I went to a ballgame with my dad."
The Mets lost 3-2 to the Washington Nationals on Sunday at Citi Field, and in doing so, also lost the series 2-1 against a team with a record of 64-92, the second-worst in the National League.
On Sunday the Mets fell behind 3-0 in the second inning and couldn’t put together a comeback against the pitching staff with a 5.33 ERA, the second-worst in the majors.
Here are the takeaways...
-- The blame for the loss has to fall mainly on the offense, but maybe the Mets should have stayed with what worked last time regarding their piggybacking plan.
They flip-flopped Sean Manaea and Clay Holmes, opting to start Manaea because of the Nationals’ lefty hitters at the top of the lineup, and it backfired. The left-hander gave up three runs in the second inning, two on light-hitting Nasim Nuñez’s home run to left field.
Overall Manaea didn’t look sharp, and Carlos Mendoza was quick to pull him with no outs in the fourth when Robert Hassell reached on Pete Alonso’s error at 1B. For the day, Manaea threw only 50 pitches, allowing four hits and no walks, while striking out three.
It had to be disappointing for the Mets because Manaea had given reason to believe he’d turned a corner of sorts, pitching well after his talk in the tunnel two starts ago with Mendoza.
Holmes did pitch well as the back half of the piggyback plan, throwing 3 2/3 scoreless innings.
-- There was plenty of reason to think the Mets’ offense would have a big day. Starter Jake Irvin has been one of the worst pitchers in baseball in recent weeks, at least statistically. In his seven previous starts before Sunday he had a 9.36 ERA, having given up 34 earned runs. He also had a road ERA for the season of 6.15.
And though Irvin had pitched well against the Mets in D.C., he was 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA at Citi Field. Yet the Mets managed only two runs against the right-hander in 5 1/3 innings.
Even so, the Nationals needed 11 outs from their bullpen, which started the day with worst bullpen ERA in the majors, at 5.60.
-- The Mets made all sorts of mistakes early that contributed to falling behind.
In the first inning, Juan Soto was picked off first as he tried to get an early running start on a steal attempt. In the second, Francisco Lindor made a bad throw that contributed to the Nationals’ three-run rally.
In the third, lack of awareness on the bases by Cedric Mullins proved costly. With Luis Torrens on second, Mullins’ fly ball down the line at first appeared to be caught by left fielder Daylen Lile going into the wall, but the ball fell out of his glove as he hit the ground. The ball was in plain sight on the ground, as Lile writhed in pain from a knee injury, and Torrens came around to score.
However, Mullins stood near first base, seemingly thinking the ball had been caught, even while watching Torrens score. He only ran to second when teammates yelled at him from the dugout, and by then umpires he called timeout due to Lile’s injury. Had he kept running he would have been allowed to stay at second, and that proved costly when he was doubled off first base on Lindor’s line drive to Josh Bell. It looked worse when Soto followed with a double to the right field corner.
In addition, Alonso made an error on a routine ground ball in the fourth inning, and though it didn’t cost the Mets a run, it continued their trend in recent days of playing sloppy baseball.
Game MVP: Nasim Nuñez
The Nationals’ backup shortstop came into the game hitting .185 with two career home runs in 151 plate appearances, but he hammered a fastball from Manaea over the left field wall for an early 3-0 lead that stood up.
Pete Alonso got a nice hand before his first at-bat of the game in the Mets' last regular-season home game of the year at Citi Field pic.twitter.com/pVoDwy8WPQ
Ending the season on a high note, Mets prospects Jett Williams, Ryan Clifford, and Carson Benge all homered for Triple-A Syracuse (77-73) on Sunday in a 9-0 win over the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.
Williams blasted his seventh home run at the Triple-A level in the top of the third inning, giving Syracuse a 2-0 lead.
Joining in on the fun, Clifford and Benge went back-to-back in the top of the sixth inning to go up 5-0. Luke Ritter and Kevin Parada also homered in the win.
He slashed .281/.390/.477 with 29 doubles, five triples, and 37 RBI over 94 games in Double-A, earning a promotion in the middle of August. In addition to the seven homers in 34 games with Syracuse, Williams also recorded five doubles and two triples with 15 RBI. He hit .209 with a .718 OPS in Triple-A.
Clifford, SNY's No. 6 prospect, ends his 2025 season with 29 total home runs, 24 of them coming in Double-A, and 93 total RBI. He made the jump from Double-A to Triple-A at the same time as Williams and Benge after posting an .848 OPS with Binghamton.
Benge, viewed as the No. 3 prospect, racked up 15 home runs in his first full professional season across all three levels of the minor leagues. He dominated Single-A with a .302 average over 60 games and was quickly promoted to Double-A at the end of June. The 22-year-old kept it going with a .317 average over 32 games with Binghamton before his August promotion to Triple-A.
Tyrone Taylor, playing in his second rehab game with Syracuse while recovering from a hamstring strain, went 1-for-5 with an RBI-single in the seventh inning. Carlos Mendoza said prior to Sunday's game against the Washington Nationals that the team would make a decision on the next steps for Taylor after he played.
PHOENIX – Small ball, long ball, ugly ball. It was all there early in the series finale between the Phillies and Arizona. Philadelphia supplied the ugly, the Diamondbacks the rest as they cruised to a 9-2 win.
Arizona, which had 15 hits on the day, batted around in the second inning, when they scored five runs off starter Ranger Suárez. They loaded the bases to begin the inning without a ball leaving the infield. Tim Tawa hit a chopper to third that Alec Bohm bobbled and threw late for an MLB single. Jordan Lawler walked and Jorge Barrossa laid down a perfect bunt. Katel Marte’s single scored two before Corbin Carroll launched a rocket to the rightfield seats for his 31st home run of the season and a 6-0 lead.
“They made me pay for all the pitches that I left in the zone,” Suárez said. “Ending the season healthy. There’s one more start before the post season so I just want to pitch as well and end the season on a high note. Pitch better, think a little bit better when I’m on the mound and just perform a little bit better.
“That’s what we work for (the playoffs),” said Suárez. “That’s why we have such a long season ahead of us every single year to get to October and perform in the postseason. It is exciting. We want to perform in the playoffs. I think we’ve lacked a little bit the past couple of years. We all want to perform there. That’s what it’s all about. We want to get it done this year.”
If Suárez needed to get an ugly performance out of his system before the playoffs begin, this one was it as he gave up six runs and eight hits in the first two innings alone. He was done after four innings and 79 pitches.
“He had a 33-pitch second inning, basically is at 80 pitches after the four,” said Rob Thomson of removing his starter. “Down 6-0, I just wanted to take care of him. They’ve got a lot of speed and other than Carroll’s home run, I don’t think they hit many balls that were hard off of Ranger. They’ve got a lot of speed.”
There was little excitement provided by the Phillies – perhaps the Eagles used it all up – as they could do nothing of significance against Arizona lefty starter Eduardo Rodriguez, who allowed no runs in his six innings. They did score two in the eighth on a single by Nick Castellanos that drove in J.T. Realmuto, and a bases loaded walk by Weston Wilson. Third baseman Alec Bohm remained hot since his return from the injured list on Friday, as he was on base five times with a double, three singles and a walk.
“He’s been great,” Thomson said. “I’ll probably have to move him up. He’s on everything. Maybe that healthy shoulder is really helping. He’s swinging the bat good. We had plenty of opportunities today. I think we were 1-for-14 (with runners on). Casty had the base hit. We had plenty of opportunities we just didn’t come through.”
There were some signs of a pulse in the sixth when pitcher Tim Mayza plunked leadoff hitter Katel Marte after Jorge Barrosa hit his first major league home run and celebrated circling the bases a bit too much, but nothing came of it. Later in the inning, Carroll stole second base for his 30th swipe of the season, becoming the first player in Arizona history to have 30 homers and 30 stolen bases.
The Diamondbacks got another run in the seventh when Tim Tawa belted a 2-2 slider from Orion Kerkering to the seats in leftfield. Kerkering gave up two more hits in the inning but got out without any more damage. They closed out their scoring by getting a run in the eighth off Jhoan Duran, who was simply getting in some work having not pitched since Tuesday.
“I talked to Duran and I said, ‘If you don’t pitch today, you’re going to be off six days going into Tuesday. Do you want an inning?’ And he said yes. So that’s why we pitched him in the eighth. I asked the same thing to David (Robertson) and he said, ‘Not necessarily.”
The Phillies have an off-day Monday before facing the Miami Marlins on Tuesday to start a three-game series. Cristopher Sánchez will get what could be his last start of the regular season as he prepares to be the Game One starter for the Phillies when they begin the playoffs.
Though his performance may not have showed it Sunday, Suárez is ready for the postseason.
“I feel better overall, if you want to compare it to last year (at this time),” Suárez said. “I’ve been feeling better overall after every single start. Whatever is best for our team to win, (starting) Game Two, Game Three, Game Four. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to help this team win.”
LOS ANGELES — Trevor McDonald said all the right things Sunday, even though he’s just three appearances into his big league career.
The Giants right-hander mentioned he was thankful for the opportunity and is simply focused on helping the team win as many games as possible down the stretch. But for the 24-year-old, September is about more than just filling innings.
Every opportunity is an audition, and McDonald certainly opened some eyes on Sunday. The game was won, 3-1, after he departed, but he more than did his part, allowing just one run over six-plus innings against a Los Angeles Dodgers club that has had its way with the Giants all season.
It’s too soon to know what that will mean for McDonald in the offseason. But for now this much is clear: He has earned another start next weekend.
“Yeah, for sure,” manager Bob Melvin said. “You pitch six innings against a lineup like that, you deserve another start.”
The Giants have much bigger questions to answer over the final week, but here’s a small one they should probably kick around in meetings next week at Oracle Park: Why did it take so long for McDonald to get a shot?
The right-hander is not a top prospect and didn’t explode off the page in Triple-A, but that’s a tough league for pitchers, and he generally handled himself well. Plus, there’s the simple, overriding fact that the Giants ran out of pitching weeks ago and McDonald has been on the 40-man roster all season.
That lack of depth helped drop them below .500, but McDonald led the Giants on Sunday as they at least avoided a sweep. He struck out three and scattered six hits while getting a couple of huge double plays behind him.
“Man, that was great,” Melvin said. “To be able to go against that lineup, his first start for us, I’ll tell you what — he’s not afraid. There’s some determination in him.”
That was no surprise to the organization’s top prospect, who also arrived on this road trip. Bryce Eldridge made his first start at first base and helped out with a diving stop that started a double play. Afterward he said McDonald was his favorite pitcher to play behind in Triple-A because he works quickly and throws strikes.
McDonald relies heavily on his sinker, but it was the breaking ball that stood out Sunday. He got some ugly swings from Shohei Ohtani early on and said that helped him settle in.
“That took the pressure off right away,” McDonald said.
When it got turned back up, the gloves were there.
Willy Adames and Christian Koss teamed up for an athletic double play, and Eldridge ended the seventh with the dive and then a throw across the diamond to Matt Chapman. It skipped, but that can be excused from the former two-way star. A lot was thrown at Eldridge the last week and throws to third were not high on the list.
“Thankfully we’ve got a Gold Glover over there,” Eldridge said. “I told him I’d get him back a few times.”
Eldridge should get a few opportunities over the final six games. The plan is for him to split first base and DH with Rafael Devers on the homestand, which could mean another day behind McDonald.
The Giants have had two empty slots in their rotation for most of September, but Kai-Wei Teng has impressed the staff with his strikeout stuff. Carson Whisenhunt could be back for one more appearance, but there still will be an opportunity for McDonald. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see some veterans shut down when the Giants are officially eliminated, which could come as soon as Tuesday.
McDonald said he’s just trying to contribute, but he knows there’s a lot at stake for him right now, even if that’s not the case for the team overall.
“I’m trying to finish strong,” he said, “and carry that into the offseason and come back next spring and try to make the team.”
LOS ANGELES — In at least one way, the Giants got what they needed this weekend. The New York Mets dropped two of three to the lowly Washington Nationals at home, continuing their late-season slide.
It wasn’t the Giants, though, who went charging through that door.
The Cincinnati Reds are now in the driver’s seat for the final NL postseason spot, and the Giants will head home knowing they could be eliminated in the next 48 hours. They at least made sure the flight was a happy one.
Trevor McDonald impressed in his second outing of the year and the Giants rallied late, winning 3-1 to avoid a four-game sweep at Dodger Stadium. They finished with a 2-5 road trip and will head home at 77-79 on the season.
The game was scoreless and zooming along at an incredible pace until the seventh, when the Dodgers scored and put two in scoring position with one out. Tommy Edman hit a line drive to first but it was snagged by the 6-foot-7 Bryce Eldridge, who was making his first big league start on the dirt. Eldridge isn’t just tall, he also used to be a pitcher, and he made a quick throw to third for an inning-ending double play.
The momentum carried over, as the Giants put three runs on Blake Treinen in the top of the eighth. Treinen got booed off the field after a stretch that included a go-ahead walk of Willy Adames with the bases loaded.
Quite The Audition
In his third career big league appearance, McDonald certainly did enough to earn a start next weekend against the Colorado Rockies.
McDonald had a shutout going until the seventh. With a struggling bullpen, manager Bob Melvin tried to stretch the right-hander out and it hurt his final line, but he certainly showed something.
McDonald started his day by striking out Shohei Ohtani and he finished with three of them, along with nine groundouts, which is the norm for him. He scattered six hits and walked just one. McDonald was a two-pitch guy (sinker, curveball) in the minors and it was that way Sunday, too, but it worked. He threw his curve 40 times and got seven whiffs.
Both were a big part of the game-winning rally, too. Koss ignited it with an infield single and added a hustle double in his final at-bat.
Revenge Season
In the future, Old Friends will have a hard time topping what Michael Conforto did to the Giants this year. Conforto is hitting just .204 overall and continues to lose playing but he would be well below .200 without the four series against his former teammates.
It was scoreless until the seventh, when Conforto followed a walk and single with a single to left. That gave him 10 RBI against the Giants this year; 28 percent of his RBI for the season have come in rivalry games. Conforto is 14-for-37 overall against the Giants with three homers, which matches the number he hit all of last season at Oracle Park.
Here's what to know about the game and how to watch...
Mets Notes
Juan Soto is slashing a robust .347/.422/.708 with seven home runs, three doubles, one triple, 20 RBI and 15 runs in September (72 at-bats). On Saturday, he recorded his sixth RBI to tie the game or put the Mets ahead in the seventh inning or later.
Francisco Lindor extended his hitting streak to nine games with a single in the third inning on Saturday and finished 1-for-5. Since Aug. 13, he leads the majors in hits, is tied for first in runs (35), and ranks eighth in OPS (1.020, minimum 100 plate appearances).
Sean Manaea is slated to take the mound first, with Clay Holmes expected to follow in a bulk relief role. The lefty-righty tandem swapped duties in Tuesday's home win over the Padres, allowing a combined three runs on seven hits with six strikeouts across nine innings.
With Manaea being reinstated from the paternity list, RHP Chris Devenski has been designated for assignment.
NATIONALS
METS
James Wood, DH
Francisco Lindor, SS
Dylan Crews, RF
Juan Soto, RF
Josh Bell, 1B
Brandon Nimmo, LF
Daylen Lile, LF
Pete Alonso, 1B
Paul DeJong, 2B
Jeff McNeil, 2B
Jorge Alfaro, C
Mark Vientos, DH
Brady House, 3B
Brett Baty, 3B
Nasim Nuñez, SS
Luis Torrens, C
Jacob Young, CF
Cedric Mullins, CF
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Former Rangers and Scotland winger Neil McCann on BBC Sportsound
It's a difficult game for Russell Martin and the team - demonstrations before the game, apprehension in the stadium.
When they got the second, they were comfortable. Hibs looked a bit lethargic and Rangers adjusted how they defended at times.
It's a big relief for Martin and his players.
I don't think there was ever a doubt from people who know Nico Raskin that you'd get the right reaction.
He's gone from sitting in the stands to the starting line-up and you can see why. He bossed the game today in terms of the energy required.
It took Nico's header to take the nerves away from the team.
What's happened within the bowels of Rangers, we're not privy to the details, but what fallout there might have been, you have to find a way as a manager to resolve it and do the best thing for the team.
Nico showed today that he's a big player for Rangers.
Former Hibernian midfielder Scott Allan on BBC Sportsound
The way Rangers started the second half, they looked to really pin Hibs in at times.
The only way Hibs were getting out would be a ball turned down a channel, hoping Kieron Bowie could spring from there.
They looked more hopeful than definitive in terms of how they were going to create chances. They had chances from set pieces, but the delivery wasn't on the money when you know the quality they possess.
Rangers defended well the second half but it all comes from how they played. They dominated the ball and moved the ball well.
Hibs ran out of ideas and didn't look the same as they have done since the start of the season.
There's no question David Gray will be disappointed in the goals that they lost, especially after the disallowed one.
It's the poorest I've seen Hibs this season, I can't lie.
With seven games remaining in the regular season, the Mets are looking to hold off a handful of teams for the final Wild Card spot in the National League.
Here's everything you need to know ahead of play on Sept. 21...
Mets: 80-75, 1.0 game up on Reds for third Wild Card
Next up: vs. Nationals, Sunday at 1:40 p.m. on SNY (Sean Manaea vs. Jake Irvin) Latest result: 5-3 loss to Nationals on Saturday Remaining schedule: 1 vs. WSH, 3 @ CHC, 3 @ MIA Odds to make playoffs: 75.9 percent *Mets hold tiebreaker over Giants by virtue of winning the season series, while Reds hold tiebreaker over Mets. The tiebreaker between the Mets and Diamondbacks is TBD, and will likely be based on intradivision record since the two clubs split the season series
Reds: 79-76, 1.0 game back of Mets
Next up: vs. Cubs, Sunday at 1:40 p.m. (Andrew Abbott vs. Jameson Taillon) Latest result: 6-3 win over Cubs on Saturday Remaining schedule: 1 vs. CHC, 3 vs. PIT, 3 @ MIL Odds to make playoffs: 20.5 percent
Diamondbacks: 78-77, 2.0 games back of Mets
Next up: vs. Phillies, Sunday at 4:10 p.m. (Eduardo Rodriguez vs. Ranger Suarez) Latest result: 4-3 win over Phillies on Saturday Remaining schedule: 1 vs. PHI, 3 vs. LAD, 3 @ SD Odds to make playoffs: 3.4 percent
Giants: 76-79, 4.0 games back of Mets
Next up: @ Dodgers, Sunday at 4:10 p.m.(Trevor McDonald vs. Emmet Sheehan) Latest result: 7-5 loss to Dodgers on Saturday Remaining schedule: 1 @ LAD, 3 vs. STL, 3 vs. COL Odds to make playoffs: 0.1 percent
Of course there was reason to doubt Giancarlo Stanton's pursuit of another milestone moment. The veteran slugger began the regular season on the indefinite injured list with sharp and constant pain in both elbows that hampered him for months. His role with the Yankees was undefined -- the same could be said about his future in the league.
But if Stanton's skeptics were a main source of motivation in his lengthy recovery, he's now silenced every last one. His knack for hitting momentous home runs never disappeared, and proof came in the form of his 450th career blast on Saturday night in the Yankees' 6-1 road win over the Orioles.
The history-making three-run shot arrived in the first inning, and Stanton had to earn it. With two strikes and two outs against Orioles starter Tomoyuki Sugano, he took a sweeper to right field that narrowly cleared Camden Yards' elevated wall. The ball didn't travel to his tape-measure standards, but it counted all the same.
"It's pretty cool [hitting No. 450]. We like round numbers," Stanton explained to the YES Network after the win. "It's cool to see the names I'm catching and tying, going above. Most importantly, it helped us win. A lot of swings away from 500. Of course, you think about it. If you bear down, I'm capable of doing it. It's just one at a time. That's all I can do."
Stanton became the 41st player in MLB history to register 450 career homers, and the fifth-fastest player to achieve the feat (1,719 games). He's also just the sixth player to hit No. 450 in a Yankee uniform, and his current mark ranks highest among active hitters.
If joining the 500 homers club grants a player access to the Hall of Fame, a willing and able version of Stanton -- who turns 36 in November -- has the chance to earn an invite before his contract with the Yankees expires following the 2027 season. There are only 28 players in the exclusive fraternity.
In the meantime, the Yankees will bask in Stanton's success at the plate. Since his season debut in mid-June (70 games), he's slashed a laudable .268/.341/.575 with 21 homers and seven doubles across 228 at-bats. Welcomed production that the team wound up needing in bunches.
"It's so unique how [Stanton] does it, how routinely hard he hits the baseball," Yankees manager Aaron Boone told YES. "But just a really cool day for him and for us as teammates. He has so much respect from all of us... Still going in what's a Hall of Fame career. It's a big number... I feel like he's got a lot left, a lot left to go..."
After the game, the Yankees revealed that one of their younger fans -- wearing Stanton's jersey, ironically -- caught the ball and wanted nothing in return. But he and his family got to meet Stanton near the clubhouse, where they exchanged one special ball for some signed memorabilia.
BALTIMORE — Giancarlo Stanton hopes his 450th home run won’t be the last milestone he celebrates before calling it a career.
“It’s a nice round number,” the New York Yankees slugger said Saturday night after hitting a three-run drive in a 6-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles. “It’s cool to see the names I’m catching and tying and going above.”
Stanton hit No. 450 in his 1,719th career game. Only Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire, Alex Rodriguez and Harmon Killebrew were quicker to 450.
If the 35-year-old Stanton continues his slugging ways, then perhaps he will reach 500 and be recognized with a plaque in Cooperstown.
“He’s still going in what’s a Hall of Fame career,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s a big number, 450, and it came with a three-run shot in the first. I feel like he’s got a lot left, a lot more to go.”
That longball off Tomoyuki Sugano sent the Yankees on their way to an important victory. The leaders in the AL wild-card race now stand just two games behind the AL East-leading Toronto Blue Jays with seven games left in the regular season.
“Most important, it helped us win,” Stanton said of his opposite-field drive to right.
Stanton didn’t start the season until July 2 because of elbow injuries. Since his return, he’s hit 21 homers.
Asked to describe Stanton as a hitter, Boone replied, “The man is dangerous. A unicorn. It’s so unique how he does it, so unique how routinely hard he hits the baseball. Just a really cool day for him and us as his teammates.”
Rest assured, there will be a lot more celebrating if Stanton reaches the next milestone.
“I’m a lot of swings away from 500,” he said. “Of course you think about it, and you understand that if you bear down that I’m capable of doing it.”
And the Hall of Fame? After being told of Boone’s assessment, Stanton said: “It’s cool to hear. I’m still rolling. That’s for you guys to debate about. I just come in every day and do what I can.”
DENVER — A difficult season for Mike Trout and his Los Angeles Angels team came with a historical benchmark Saturday.
The three-time American League most valuable player and 11-time all-star hit his 400th career home run in the eighth inning against the Colorado Rockies.
The 485-foot solo shot to left center field off a 98-mph sinker from Rockies reliever Jaden Hill extended the Angels’ lead to 3-0 as the club tries to snap an eight-game losing streak.
The homer was the 10th-longest in famously hitter-friendly Coors Field history since the advent of Statcast in 2015.
He became the 59th player in MLB history with at least 400 home runs and the third player to reach the mark while in an Angels uniform, joining Dave Winfield and Vladimir Guerrero.
He reached 1,000 career RBIs in July with home run No. 397.
Trout, a career .294 hitter, is batting just .229 this season, though his 22 homers and 59 RBIs are his most in three years after he endured injury shortened seasons in 2023 and 2024.
Entering Saturday’s matchup, Trout had just one home run in his previous 36 games.
Angels outfielder Mike Trout takes the field before the team's home opener against the Cleveland Guardians on April 4. Trout hit his 400th career home run Saturday against the Colorado Rockies. (Eric Thayer / Associated Press)
Mike Trout introduced himself to Angels fans at the 2010 Futures Game. In his first performance at Angel Stadium, his magic was on display: beating out an infield single, turning a routine single into a double on sheer hustle, forcing two errors with his speed on ground balls that could have been scored as hits.
He was not selected the most valuable player of the game. Fifteen years later, does he remember who was?
He thought about it for a second. Then his eyes lit up.
“Hank Conger,” Trout said.
The Angels had drafted both in the first round: Conger, a catcher, in 2006; Trout, an outfielder, in 2009. Before the 2010 season, Baseball America ranked Conger as the 84th-best prospect in baseball, Trout as the 85th.
Of the 29 position players in the 2010 Futures Game, Trout is the only one still playing. Conger, now a coach for the Minnesota Twins, last played in the major leagues nine years ago.
In 2012, when he and Trout each started the season at triple-A Salt Lake, Conger realized there were top prospects, and then there was Trout.
Trout was 20. He played 20 games, batted .403, and the Angels summoned him to the major leagues for good.
“He goes off, gets called up, misses almost a month,” Conger said, “and still becomes the rookie of the year.”
That vote was unanimous. Trout also finished a close second for American League MVP to Miguel Cabrera, who won the Triple Crown. He went on to win three MVP awards — only Barry Bonds has won more — and finish in the top five in MVP voting every year for nine consecutive years.
On Saturday night in a 3-0 win over the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field, Trout hit his 400th home run, a milestone the oft-laconic Trout readily put into perspective.
“Definitely one to sit on, just to look back and reflect how quick it’s gone,” he said last month. “It seems like yesterday I just got drafted. Now I have two kids, and I’ve been here 14 years.”
Trout is 34, deep into the second half of his major league days. The mere mention of his name commonly triggers twin laments from fans: how injuries have hampered his career, and how the Angels have hampered his career.
In the first nine seasons of his career, the Angels put Trout on the injured list twice. In the five seasons since, this one included, the Angels put Trout on the injured list six times. He has not played 130 games in a season since 2019.
“Is this our modern-day version of Mickey Mantle?” asked Tim Salmon, who ranks second on the Angels’ all-time home run list at 299. “They talk about Mickey Mantle: if he didn’t blow out his knee, what could he have been? Are we going to look back on Trout’s career and say the same things?
“He’s obviously a Hall of Famer in so many ways already, but will he get the typical benchmarks? Will he be in that category like (former Angels teammate Albert) Pujols? He could have been.”
If Trout had played as often since the pandemic as he did before it, he already would have topped 500 home runs.
He still hits for power. He still gets on base, tied for third in the AL in walks. He hits the ball hard, when he hits it.
However, of the 144 major leaguers with enough at-bats to qualify for a batting title, Trout has struck out the second-most (.320 strikeout percentage). After hitting his 398th home run on Aug. 7, he did not hit his 399th until Sept. 11.
(Photo illustration by Tim Hubbard / Los Angeles Times)
With 400 home runs, Trout ranks among the top 60 all-time. Dan Szymborski of Fangraphs projects Trout will finish his career with 503 home runs. That would get Trout into the top 30.
With good health, Trout might well have gotten to 600. That could have put him into the top 10, ahead of Frank Robinson, looking up at the likes of Pujols, Ken Griffey Jr. and Willie Mays.
“I’ve always told myself everything happens for a reason,” Trout said. “I did everything I could to be on the field.
“If I look back, I can say, ‘It sucks I’ve been banged up,’ but I’m here now, and I’ve still got a lot of time left to enjoy.”
The first two names former Angels manager Joe Maddon dropped in a comparison with Trout: Bonds and Griffey.
“He’s just among the best athletes ever to play the game,” Maddon said. “He has strength and speed and agility and everything.
“If you’re going to scout the perfect player, it would be Mike Trout.”
Bonds did not win a World Series; the Angels denied him. Griffey did not play in a World Series.
No one denies their greatness. No one should discount Trout’s, no matter how interrupted his half-decade has been. He was the dominant player of the previous decade, all of it.
“He was the best player in the game for, what, eight, nine, 10 years?” Dodgers Hall-of-Famer-in-waiting Clayton Kershaw said. “We’re not just talking about being an all-star. It was unanimous.
“If you ever asked anybody who the best player was, they’d say Trout. It’s like right now with Shohei (Ohtani) or (Aaron) Judge. It’s pretty obvious that Trout was the best player back then, and it’s not like he’s bad right now.”
Angels star Mike Trout hits his 400th career home run against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on Saturday night. (Matthew Stockman / Getty Images)
“Player marketing requires one thing for sure: the player,” Manfred said.
The Angels shot back with a scathing public rebuke of the commissioner and a hearty endorsement of Trout — crafted in part by owner Arte Moreno — that ended thusly: “We applaud him for prioritizing his personal values over commercial self-promotion. That is rare in today’s society and stands out as much as his extraordinary talent.”
The adult in the room was Trout, who followed the Angels’ statement with his own. It ended this way: "Everything is cool between the Commissioner and myself. End of story. I am ready to just play some baseball!”
The first two questions Conger always gets: You played with the Angels? What’s Mike Trout like?
Conger might not tell them about the group texts with long-ago teammates in which Trout still participates, or the random videos Trout sends, like the one of Conger breaking his bat and popping up. He will tell them about the one player that, even on a team with Pujols and Torii Hunter, got inundated with requests to go somewhere or meet someone or sign something.
“Seeing him do almost everything like that, with a smile and really making an effort, was the most impressive thing for me to see as a person,” Conger said.
“You hear the saying, ‘Don’t meet your heroes.’ He’s the complete opposite. I know he’s not outspoken or super flashy so people are like, ‘We need him to be more marketable.’ But, in this day and age, he is the role model citizen of what everybody should strive for in Major League Baseball.”
Joe Maddon, left, who was Mike Trout's manager from 2020-22, said, "If you're going to scout the perfect player, it would be Mike Trout." (Ashley Landis / Associated Press)
The private group chats with teammates past and present are what Trout is about, not commercial shoots or talk shows, not podcasts or YouTube channels. He’d rather be cheering on his Philadelphia Eagles.
“The story is, honestly, that he is who he is based on where he came from,” Maddon said. “He’s not been infiltrated by social media and any other new-age, new-wave method of expressing yourself.”
Trout came from Millville, N.J., a blue-collar town of not even 30,000 people, some 40 miles south of Philadelphia. His high school could have retired his uniform number, except that Trout returns to the school every year to present a jersey with his number — 1, of course — to the new team captain.
Salmon has spent his adult life around the Angels, as a player and broadcaster. Fans often press him for the scoop on Trout, he said, with some version of this line: “You guys share the same fishy last name, and he’s Mr. Angel just like you.”
Salmon would be a logical guy to ask. He chose “friendly” and “cordial” as adjectives to describe his relationship with Trout.
“Everybody expects me to know him,” Salmon said, “and I don’t, really.”
Said Kershaw: “I’ve always appreciated the way he goes about the game. There’s not a lot of flash. It’s just good baseball.”
The Angels have not played good baseball. Trout has played three postseason games, all 11 years ago, and the Angels lost them all. The Angels had Trout and Ohtani together on the roster for six years and never once managed a winning record.
That has led to a long, loud and frankly tiresome chorus of well-meaning fans across America crying to liberate Trout, so a great player could take the postseason stage. Come home and play for the Phillies! How about the Yankees? Demand a trade, at least!
“He’s never made a stink in a headline about being disgruntled,” Conger said.
“He’s never going to walk into Arte’s office and say, ‘Listen, we need to do better, what’s going on?’ ” Maddon said. “He wants to win, but he’s never going to influence or persuade anybody who is in charge, because that person is in charge, and his job is to be Mike Trout, the player.”
Even if Trout ever did ask to be traded, at this point Moreno might have to throw in $100 million or so to induce another team to assume the contract, and Moreno isn’t about to pay Trout to play elsewhere when the home fans still love him. And, really, should we not celebrate a star who honors his commitment rather than lobbies to escape it?
Trout has expressed measured frustration over the Angels’ poor performance, but loyalty is his north star. The Angels have treated him well, and he has returned the favor.
One year, the Angels gave every kid at their game a Trout T-shirt — every Sunday, all summer long.
Hank Conger, right, now a coach with the Minnesota Twins, played in the same Futures Game as Mike Trout in 2010 and last played in the majors in 2016. (Matt Krohn / Associated Press)
He, not Salmon, is Mr. Angel now. I asked what being an Angel means to him.
“There’s a lot of teams that had a chance to get me, and a lot of teams passed on me,” Trout said. That draft was 16 years ago, and still it was the first thing he mentioned in his answer.
“The Angels took a chance on a kid from a little town in southern New Jersey. I enjoy putting the uniform on. I don’t take it for granted.
“They trusted me when they offered the deal — two of them.”
Trout twice passed up free agency to stay with the Angels. In 2014, three years before he could try free agency, the Angels guaranteed him $144.5 million. In 2019, two years before he could try free agency, they tore up the final years of the first big deal and guaranteed him a then-record $426.5 million through 2030.
Moreno celebrated that deal with more of a pep rally than a news conference, in front of a giddy gathering of fans, with Trout and his wife on a dais beneath an enormous red banner that said “LOYALTY,” with a halo adorning the A.
Tony Gwynn never won a World Series, but no one discounts his greatness, or his loyalty to the Padres. His statue, with the inscription “Mr. Padre,” looms beyond right field at Petco Park.
To the loyal and long-suffering fans of Orange County, Trout is their Gwynn.
The Angels have put up two statues at Angel Stadium: one in honor of founding owner Gene Autry, the other in memory of Michelle Carew, the daughter of Hall of Famer Rod Carew, who lost her life to leukemia at 18.
Trout has five years left on his contract. Even so: The first player in the history of a 65-year-old franchise to earn a ballpark statue is Mike Trout.
Times staff writer Jack Harris contributed to this column.
The Yankees wasted no time generating offense on Saturday night, as a three-run rally in the first inning was ample damage to defeat the division-rival Orioles, 6-1, at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
While the magic number to clinch a postseason berth is now down to five, the chase for a division crown hasn't ended just yet. The Blue Jays fell to the Royals on Saturday, narrowing their first-place lead over the Yankees in the AL East standings to a mere two games. Two back with seven to go.
Here are the takeaways...
-- Giancarlo Stanton's hopes of producing the 450th home run of his career were spoiled on Friday, as his deep flyout in the second inning landed a few feet shy of the left field wall. But the veteran slugger summoned just enough muscle to achieve the milestone in his first at-bat on Saturday, connecting on a two-out sweeper from Orioles starter Tomoyuki Sugano that traveled just over the elevated wall in right for a three-run shot. The Yankees' first-inning rally was sparked by a pair of two-out singles from Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger.
-- Stanton became the 41st player in MLB history to register 450 career homers, and the fifth-fastest player to accomplish the feat (1,719 games). If the 500-homer mark still separates Hall of Fame contenders from pretenders, there's a chance that a healthy Stanton flirts with a legitimate pursuit over the next few seasons. Again, call it a chance. The historic blast was No. 21 on the year for Stanton, who's now hitting a respectable .269 with a .920 OPS.
-- Stanton's behemoth teammate showed off his esteemed power two innings later. Facing a full count, Judge won an eight-pitch leadoff matchup with Sugano by demolishing a sweeper down the right-field line for a leadoff solo homer. The 370-foot blast was No. 49 for the Yankees' captain, and he's now one homer shy of producing the fourth 50-homer season of his career. The Orioles trailed 4-0 after three, and didn't allow Sugano to return for a fourth inning of work. The Yankees roughed the right-hander up -- he threw a whopping 87 pitches and allowed six hits and one walk.
-- Carlos Rodón reached 87 pitches, too... but not until recording one out in the seventh inning. The Yankees' southpaw resembled an ace, lowering his season ERA from 3.11 to 3.04 with seven stellar frames of one-run ball. He retired 10 straight at one point, struck out eight for the first time since Aug. 1, and logged 18 first-pitch strikes to 26 total batters. Rodón's lone blemish came in the seventh, when he allowed an RBI double to Coby Mayo that cut the Yankees' lead to 6-1. The sharp performance was acknowledged by his teammates in the dugout -- he now has a career-high 17 wins.
-- Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Trent Grisham provided Rodón with more breathing room during the fifth and sixth innings by collecting RBI singles against Orioles relievers Jose Castillo and Yennier Cano. The eighth inning belonged to Luke Weaver, aiming to regain further confidence after an ugly relief appearance on Monday. Much to the Yankees' delight, the veteran right-hander looked sharp for a second straight game, inducing a pair of swinging strikeouts (Jackson Holliday and Jordan Westburg) on 15 pitches. David Bednar took over the ninth, and needed just six pitches to retire the side.
Game MVP: Giancarlo Stanton
Stanton's momentous three-run homer in the first inning was all that the Yankees needed. The next name to chase on MLB's all-time homers list? Carl Yastrzemski (452).
