Mike Trout Celebrates 35th Birthday with 400-Foot Home Run and Game-Winning Contribution Mike Trout marked his 35th birthday with a 400-foot home run in the first inning of the Angels’ 4-3 win over the Marlins at loanDepot park on Friday night. The Statcast-projected deep shot to left-center field, his 19th of the season, came after he swung at the first pitch from Miami starter Tyler Phillips. The 96.8 mph four-seam fastball traveled far enough to give Trout a moment of personal celebration. “It’s pretty cool,” Trout said. “It’s been like 12, 20 games [since I’ve hit one], so that’s good to finally get one. I [had just] been jumping too forward lately and jamming myself.” Trout went 1-for-3 with a strikeout and a walk in the game, maintaining his season slash line of .240/.385/.449 and an .834 OPS. After the Marlins tied the score in the fourth and took the lead in the sixth, Trout helped the Angels reclaim the advantage in the seventh. Josh Lowe led off the inning with a walk, advanced to third on a groundout, and reached home on a weak chopper up the middle that went under the glove of pitcher Josh Ekness. The ball left Trout’s bat at 56.7 mph, and he beat the throw to first from Xavier Edwards, allowing Lowe to score and tie the game at 2-2. Trout’s hustle set up a two-run go-ahead home run from Nolan Schanuel, the hometown player who sent his seventh homer of the season out to left field. “To be able to hit it in front of my friends and family, and pretty much my hometown, my home state, it was awesome,” Schanuel said. “And just Mike obviously doing Mike things. But to be able to beat a team that’s in the hunt [for the playoffs], we’re playing spoilers right now, so it’s awesome to be able to do that.#loandepot_park #mike_trout #angels #josh_low #jose_siri
