Angels slugger Mike Trout passed a significant career milestone on Saturday, clubbing his 10th home run of the year -- and the 250th of his career -- off of the Royals’ Jakob Junis in the first inning of the team’s eventual 6-3 win.
The blast, a one-out solo shot to the center field bullpen, was delivered on a 2-2 fastball and registered a projected 473 feet -- just four feet shy of Trout’s all-time best mark in the Statcast era.
With his 250th career homer, Trout was added to an exclusive list of American League sluggers who reached that total before their 28th birthdays, becoming the first to do it in nearly two decades. The club of young home run hitters currently includes Jimmie Foxx (who reached the mark in 1934), Mickey Mantle (1959), Juan González (1997), Ken Griffey Jr. (1997), and Álex Rodríguez (2002).
As expected, it’s been another strong year for the seven-time All-Star and two-time MVP: Through Saturday’s performance, he’s batting .297/.468/.580 with 10 homers, 27 RBI, six stolen bases (in seven chances), and a 1.047 OPS across 186 plate appearances in 2019.
Propelled in part by Trout’s record-setting home run, as well as Shohei Ohtani’s first homer of 2019, a Kole Calhoun sac fly, and a Jonathan Lucroy RBI double, the Angels clinched a 6-3 win over the Royals to position themselves for the sweep. They’ll face off against southpaw Danny Duffy for the series finale on Sunday at 4:07 PM EDT.