Mike Trout homers again, but Angels fall to the Rays

José Caballero had three hits and two RBIs, Isaac Paredes homered and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Angels 6-4 on Tuesday night despite Mike Trout’s sixth home run.

Harold Ramírez also drove in a pair for the Rays, who have won three of four.

Aaron Civale (2-1) gave up only two more hits after Trout’s two-run shot in the first. The right-hander gave up three runs (two earned) in five innings with four strikeouts. The four earned runs Civale has given up in three starts have come on three homers.

“No one ever wants to give up homers, but also no one ever wants to have traffic. The more you’re pitching out of the windup, the better. I think every pitcher shares that same sentiment,� Civale said.

Pete Fairbanks earned his first save despite giving up an RBI single to Luis Rengifo in the ninth. The Angels had runners on first and second with two out, but Miguel Sanó struck out looking.

“Nobody’s firing on all cylinders right now. I don’t know the exact reason but sometimes you’ve got to grind through it a little bit. Grind your at-bats and grind your pitches. I felt like we did that tonight,� Rays manager Kevin Cash said.

Trout has homered in three straight games for the 15th time in his career.

“When they’ve been making mistakes, he’s been making them pay,� Angels manager Ron Washington said. “His second at-bat he just missed one. (Civale) hung a breaking ball and he just didn’t get there. But, no, he’s swinging the bat well.�

Caballero has reached base in a career-high 10 consecutive games to open the season. He had an RBI single in the first inning off Patrick Sandoval (1-2) to tie it 2-all. In the fifth, he gave the Rays a 3-2 advantage when he drove in Jose Siri with a double to left field.

It wasn’t a perfect night for the shortstop, though. He booted a grounder by Nolan Schanuel up the middle in the fourth, scoring Brandon Drury to bring the Angels within 4-3.

“The staff, the teammates, they’ve been awesome to me. They’ve been trying to help me with everything, and I feel comfortable here. That’s why I think it makes me a better player,� said Caballero, who also had his fourth stolen base of the season.

Paredes has a nine-game hitting streak, the second-longest of his career. With two hits — including a solo homer to left in the seventh that put the Rays up by two — he is batting .364 (12 for 33) with four homers since an 0-for-9 start to the season.

After Mickey Moniak lined a base hit to right field in the first inning, Trout connected on an elevated sinker from Civale and drove it just over the wall in left-center. Trout is tied with Boston’s Tyler O’Neill for most homers in the majors.

Curtis Mead drew a leadoff walk and scored on Siri’s double in the second to bring the Rays within 2-1. Mead initially was called out at the plate, but the call was reversed after replay showed he beat the tag.

Sandoval went five innings and gave up four runs (three earned) on five hits and struck out six. The unearned run came in the fourth when Siri scored after Moniak dropped Ramírez’s fly ball just inside the right-field line to put the Rays up 4-2.

“He just couldn’t command the fastball and he didn’t have any consistency with his off-speed pitches. But he stayed in there, and when he left we were only down 3-2,� Washington said.

Up next

Tampa Bay RHP Zack Littell (1-0, 0.82 ERA) faces RHP José Soriano (0-1, 4.50) in the series finale Wednesday afternoon.