Mike Trout notched another career record with his 42nd homer of the year as the Los Angeles Angels nailed a 5-1 win in their first of two road games against the Texas Rangers on Tuesday.
The outfielder smacked a Joe Palumbo pitch to left in the first inning, extending his homer lead in the American League and drawing level with fellow Angelino Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers at the top of the Major League.
His previous season high was in 2015 when he got 41 homers and he is on track to finish this year with 53, which would pass Troy Glaus’ record of 47 for the Angels in 2000.
The Angels had less cause for celebration, however, when the Texans won the day’s second game 3-2 in a game which went to 11.
Down the road in Houston, outfielder George Springer set a franchise record for the hometown Astros when he hit over the right field wall for his 10th lead-off homer of the season.
Springer and second baseman Jose Altuve both got first-inning homers and catcher Martin Maldonado added a third in the fifth en route to a 6-3 win over the Detroit Tigers, which was Houston’s eighth consecutive victory at home.
Home sides the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Baltimores Orioles got 4-1 wins over the Washington Nationals and the Kansas City Royals respectively, with the Cincinnati Reds beating the San Diego Padres 3-2 in Ohio and the Boston Red Sox losing by the same score at Fenway Park to the Philadelphia Phillies.
The New York Mets traded blows with the Cleveland Indians in a tight affair for the first five innings in Queens before Michael Conforto hit a tiebreaking two-run homer on the way to a 9-2 routing.
The Tampa Bay Rays went down 4-7 to the visiting Seattle Mariners, the St Louis Cardinals beat the visiting Milwaukee Brewers 9-4 and the Chicago Cubs beat the San Francisco Giants 5-3 at Wrigley Field.
Miami Marlins pitcher Elieser Hernandez managed to hit Ronald Acuna Jr with the first pitch of the bottom of the first inning, but it was Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker who attracted the most attention when he was ejected on the way to his side’s 5-1 win in Georgia.
The Oakland Athletics won 6-2 against the visiting New York Yankees, the Arizona Diamondbacks won 8-7 in Phoenix against the Colorado Rockies and the Minnesota Twins claimed a big 14-4 victory over the Chicago White Sox.
Tuesday’s biggest victory belonged to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who routed the Toronto Blue Jays 16-3 in the city of angels.
