Mike Trout homered in his seventh consecutive game, but it wasn’t enough for the Los Angeles Angels in a 5-4 loss to the host Cleveland Guardians on Monday night.
Amed Rosario’s seventh-inning double drove home Steven Kwan to snap a 4-4 tie and lift Cleveland to its fourth win in a row and sixth in seven games.
Trout became the ninth player in major league history to hit a home run in seven consecutive games, the most recent being the Reds’ Joey Votto last July.
The major league record is eight, held by Dale Long (Pittsburgh Pirates, 1956), Don Mattingly (New York Yankees, 1987) and Ken Griffey Jr. (Seattle Mariners, 1993).
The Guardians (74-65) increased their lead in the American League Central to three games over the Chicago White Sox (72-69), who were idle on Monday.
Neither manager was around to see the end of the game, as both Guardians manager Terry Francona and Angels interim manager Phil Nevin were ejected in the bottom of the seventh.
With Cleveland’s Andres Gimenez at the plate, a pitch from Angels reliever Ryan Tepera appeared to hit Gimenez on the foot. Francona argued with home plate umpire Ron Kulpa and was ejected.
During the delay, Tepera requested to throw warm-up pitches, but Kulpa said no, and that brought out Nevin, who argued and also was ejected.
Kulpa didn’t make it to the end of the game either, getting hit in the facemask with a foul tip with two out in the ninth. He was forced to leave the game for precautionary reasons.
Guardians reliever Enyel De Los Santos (4-0) got the victory over Angels reliever Aaron Loup (0-5). Emmanuel Clase pitched a perfect ninth inning for his major-league-best 34th save.
The Guardians took the lead in the second inning, scoring four runs against Angels starter Reid Detmers. Oscar Gonzalez was hit by a pitch to start the frame and went to second on an infield single by Owen Miller.
After Gimenez hit into a force play for the first out of the inning, Tyler Freeman singled to drive in the first run of the game, and Austin Hedges followed with a two-run double.
One out later, Kwan singled home a run to put Cleveland up 4-0.
Guardians starter Konnor Pilkington held the Angels scoreless through three innings before they broke through in the fourth. Taylor Ward walked with one out, then scored on Matt Duffy’s two-run homer, his first of the season.
The Angels (61-80) tied the game in the fifth after Max Stassi led off with a double and two outs later scored on Trout’s homer, making it 4-4. The long ball was Trout’s 35th of the year.
–Field Level Media
