DENVER — It was three pitches, three home runs for the Angels as part of an incredible 13 runs in the third inning in Saturday’s game against the Rockies at Coors Field. It was the first time a club had hit a home run on three consecutive fields in nearly three years, and the 13-run frame equaled a franchise record set in both 1978 and 1997.
Superstar Mike Trout opened the frame with a solo shot after a 1-0 fastball from right-hander Chase Anderson before Brandon Drury followed up with a solo shot on a first pitch cutter.
Matt Thaiss then vaulted over a first-pitch curveball to hit a ding, giving the Angels back-to-back homers for the second time this season.
The last time the Angels hit three straight homers was against the Royals on April 23 when Taylor Ward, Trout and Shohei Ohtani did. And the last time a team did that feat on just three pitches was the Yankees, who also happened to hit a home run on three consecutive pitches from Anderson on September 17, 2020.
Trout started with his 17th home run of the year and his second in a matter of days. Drury hit his 13th hit of the year while it was Thaiss’ fourth home run of the season.
All three homers were slammed into thin Colorado air when Trout’s left the bat at 110.5 mph and flew a Statcast-predicted 451 feet into midfield, while Drury’s had an exit speed of 105 mph and a predicted 437 feet in left center flew and Thaiss left the racquet at 108.5 mph and is expected to fly 399 feet to the right.
It sparked a 13-run inning for the Angels as Ward and Ohtani later added RBI singles. Trout came up again with two outs, but set up a two-run single on foot by Drury, who had three RBIs in the frame. Thaiss also went with two outs to fill in bases for Hunter Renfroe, who cleared them with a double.
New signing Eduardo Escobar followed with an RBI single before Mickey Moniak hit a two-run home run to give the Angels a 15-0 lead.
The four innings home runs set an Angels franchise record, matching a feat also accomplished on May 28, 2000 in Kansas City.
David Fletcher landed at the bottom of the third inning, in which the Angels also had ten hits and three walks.