The Los Angeles Angels have found their power stroke, hitting the ball all over the place, including out of the ballpark. They continued that pace on Monday night when Albert Pujols went deep twice to lead the Angels past the Tampa Bay Rays 7-3. Mike Trout and David Freese also went deep in the Angels' fifth consecutive victory.
The bats are beginning to heat up after the Halos were last in the league in batting average and on-base percentage a week ago. They now have 13 home runs in their last five games, including five in an 8-6 win over the Detroit Tigers on Saturday night.
Pujols went deep in the fifth off the Rays' rookie starter Alex Colome, and then in the eight off Andrew Bellatti to give him 13 on the season. It was also his 533rd career home run, putting him one shy of Jimmie Foxx for 17th on the all-time home run list. He has gone deep in four of his last five games, and now has 1,117 extra-base hits, which ties Foxx and Ted Williams for 16th all-time in that category.
Garrett Richards got the win to run his record to 5-3 after allowing three runs on six hits in six innings. He walked three and struck out four in the win. Richards got the month of June off to a good start, a month that he was very dominant in last season. He went 4-0 with a 1.05 ERA in June of 2014.
Colome allowed five runs on nine hits, including three homers, in six innings. He had allowed four home runs in his previous six starts, all of which came in an 11-5 loss to the New York Yankees on May 11th.
Tampa Bay's Nick Franklin snapped an 0-for-25 drought in the fourth inning with a two-run homer, which was his first hit of the season batting left-handed. He had started 0-for-20 against right-handed pitchers after missing the first 38 games of the season.
The Angels improved their record to 28-24, good for second in the AL West, and will host the Rays tonight and tomorrow before visiting the Yankees over the weekend.
The bats are beginning to heat up after the Halos were last in the league in batting average and on-base percentage a week ago. They now have 13 home runs in their last five games, including five in an 8-6 win over the Detroit Tigers on Saturday night.
Pujols went deep in the fifth off the Rays' rookie starter Alex Colome, and then in the eight off Andrew Bellatti to give him 13 on the season. It was also his 533rd career home run, putting him one shy of Jimmie Foxx for 17th on the all-time home run list. He has gone deep in four of his last five games, and now has 1,117 extra-base hits, which ties Foxx and Ted Williams for 16th all-time in that category.
Garrett Richards got the win to run his record to 5-3 after allowing three runs on six hits in six innings. He walked three and struck out four in the win. Richards got the month of June off to a good start, a month that he was very dominant in last season. He went 4-0 with a 1.05 ERA in June of 2014.
Colome allowed five runs on nine hits, including three homers, in six innings. He had allowed four home runs in his previous six starts, all of which came in an 11-5 loss to the New York Yankees on May 11th.
Tampa Bay's Nick Franklin snapped an 0-for-25 drought in the fourth inning with a two-run homer, which was his first hit of the season batting left-handed. He had started 0-for-20 against right-handed pitchers after missing the first 38 games of the season.
The Angels improved their record to 28-24, good for second in the AL West, and will host the Rays tonight and tomorrow before visiting the Yankees over the weekend.
