Kent Bewley's News Story Collection

In the history of baseball, there have been great generational players who have made their mark and established themselves as the best of them all in the fabled game. But there are times when stars who fade into obscurity due to injury or a lack of production at the plate make a grand statement that displays their old self and that they are not finished setting records yet. Mike Trout was the undoubtedly best player in baseball for an eight-year period at the beginning of his career, but in recent years he has been hamstrung literally by injuries that have caused him to miss so many games and that has been to the detriment of the overall team success of his ballclub, the Los Angeles Angels. But over these past few days, Trout put on a massive offensive showcase that displayed to the entire baseball world he isn’t anywhere near done in his baseball prowess. And him doing it against one of the most recognized and legendary sports teams in the world just makes it all the more sweet.

The Angels took on the New York Yankees this week in a four-game series at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. At a ballpark where they have been having quite a lot of success playing in these past few years, the Halos looked to show that they were on the right track in a mediocre American League. In a high-scoring first game of the series, Trout played a massive role in keeping the Angels afloat. With a 7-4 deficit, a couple of two-out hits by Adam Frazier and Zach Neto led to Trout coming up against Yankees reliever Jake Bird and he hit a full count sweeper out to left center field for a three-run shot that tied the game. Not to be outdone, Aaron Judge, who hit a two-run shot in the first inning, hit a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth to give the Bronx Bombers the lead. After a sac fly by Josh Lowe that tied the score at eight in the seventh, Trout came to bat in the top of the eighth and with Frazier on base, he unloaded a two-run shot off Camilo Doval to left center to give the Halos a 10-8 lead. If not for Jordan Romano’s meltdown in the bottom of the ninth inning and two multi-run homers by Trent Grisham, Trout’s five RBI, two homer night would have yielded a victory for the Angels. Instead an 11-10 walk-off loss to New York opened up this thrilling series. Trout had doubled up his home run total for the season in one night and tied and surpassed Brooklyn Dodgers legendary center fielder Duke Snider for 59th place on the all-time MLB home run list. How fitting just two nights before Jackie Robinson Day for one Michael Nelson Trout, whose grandparents were probably young teenagers when Jack Roosevelt Robinson broke the color barrier in pro sports.

On Tue, Apr 14, the Angels did better against the Yankees as Trout left off from where he was on Monday night by hitting a solo shot to center field to start the scoring. He was joined by Jo Adell and Jorge Soler(who is now serving a reduced four-game suspension for his fight against Reynaldo López on Tue, Apr 7), who hit solo shots of their own in having the Angels go back-to-back-to-back on big flies in the top of the first off Ryan Weathers. The Halos easily won the game 7-1 to even up the series. On Jackie Robinson Day, the Angels had another mini-comeback with home runs hit by Frazier, Logan O’Hoppe(both of the first two guys hit their first home runs of the 2026 season) and who else but Mike Trout, who hit a two-run shot to the close right center field stands at Yankee Stadium. A 4-3 lead was held by the Halos all the way until another tragic chokejob in the bottom of the ninth as an infield pop fly ball hit by Jazz Chisholm Jr fell in between both Zach Neto and Oswald Peraza and that led to a game-winning two-run double hit by José Caballero.

In spite of another great performance by Trout not being enough for a win again, the series finale on Thur, Apr 16 gave Trout a chance to do something never done by any visiting player at Yankee Stadium, no matter if it was the old Cathedral of Baseball or the new one. With a bullpen game on tap, the Angels were going to need as much run support as they could get. A two-run shot by Peraza was a good start, but that was offset by a solo shot by Judge(who hit a home run in three of the four games in this series) and a two-run blast by Giancarlo Stanton. With a 3-2 lead, the Yankees were looking good with Max Fried on the mound, but in the top of the sixth the Halos rallied against him and drove him out of the game. A four-run rally occurred against Fried and reliever Fernando Cruz and after Ben Rice hit a solo home run to decrease the Angels’ lead to two runs, Trout came up to bat in the top of the seventh. Trout had already walked twice and scored on one of those walks. Against reliever Angel Chivilli, Trout hit a 2-2 changeup to deep left center and well into the bleachers. It was the fifth home run of the series for Trout, who became the first ever visiting player at Yankee Stadium to hit a homer in every single game of a four-game series. Another incredible feat for Trout, who also tied and passed Mark Teixiera(a former Yankee himself) on the all-time home run list. Along with a grand slam hit by Jo Adell in the top of the eighth(which Trout came home on, too), the Angels slugged their way to an 11-4 rout of the Pinstripers. A good series split in the Bronx fueled by the greatness of Mike Trout, who is well on his way to a potential American League Player of the Week mark, just one week after José Soriano won it due to his two impressive starts.

With a six-game homestand coming up, Trout will hopefully be able to hit his first homer of the season at Angel Stadium. All seven of his dingers have come on the road so far this season, so perhaps some actual homers at the Big A are in store for number 27. If he continues to stay healthy and hit at a high level, Trout could potentially achieve something he has never been able to accomplish in his career, which is a 50-homer season. For now, Trout is on a tear at the plate and that is a good thing for the game and the Halos.