ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Mike Trout is in his second decade of delivering clutch hits and catalyzing the Los Angeles Angels’ offense. For most of that first decade, his teammates on the mound weren’t consistently good enough to turn enough of Trout’s big hits into wins.
These Angels just might be different: When Trout came through with his latest huge hit in the fifth inning Friday night, five pitchers comfortably made it stand up yet again.
Trout hit a two-run double and Jhonathan Díaz tossed five spotless innings in his first start of the season, leading the surging Angels to a 3-0 victory over the Washington Nationals.
After Díaz impressed his teammates by winning a key showdown with Juan Soto, the bullpen coolly finished the Angels’ fifth shutout of the year and second in a row — the first back-to-back shutouts for the normally pitching-poor Halos since July 2016. Raisel Iglesias threw a perfect ninth on six pitches for his seventh save.
Trout loved to see it all.
“You can’t ask for much more than that (from Díaz),” Trout said. “You just can’t. He took advantage of the opportunity and showed us what he had. … It’s been great. The whole pitching staff has been great. It’s been fun to play behind in center field, and we’ve had some quick games as well, so that’s always a plus.”
Shohei Ohtani also drove in a run for the Angels in their third consecutive victory and 10th in 13 games, including six straight at Angel Stadium. The AL West leaders opened a six-game homestand by moving eight games above .500 for the first time since June 2018.
Anthony Rendon went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts and grounded into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded in his first game against the Nationals since leaving them to sign a seven-year, $245 million free-agent deal with…
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