The Los Angeles Angels had a record-breaking night in Denver, Colorado, as they destroyed the Colorado Rockies 25-1 on Saturday. The Angels set franchise records for runs, hits, and margin of victory in a game, and tied team records for runs and homers with their huge third inning. Manager Phil Nevin said the Angels were aggressive and "hitting gets contagious at times. Big boys get into something like that (in the third), it fires up the clubhouse."
Mike Trout, Brandon Drury and Matt Thaiss hit homers on consecutive pitches to open a 13-run third inning and Mickey Moniak capped it off with a two-run homer. David Fletcher hit a three-run homer to cap an eight-run fourth as the Angels scored 21 runs on 17 hits in the third and fourth innings combined, sending 27 batters to the plate. Hunter Renfroe and Mickey Moniak each had five hits and four RBIs for the Angels, who ended a three-game losing streak in a big way. "We were aggressive," said Nevin. "We attacked pitches in the zone. Hitting gets contagious at times. Big boys get into something like that (in the third), it fires up the clubhouse." Fletcher had three hits and five RBIs in his first game since being recalled from Salt Lake City. "I don't think I've seen anything like that, honestly," Fletcher said. "Starting with three homers in a row, pretty unbelievable. Hopefully, we saved some for tomorrow."
Griffin Canning (6-2) gave up four hits in six scoreless innings while striking out seven with a walk. He has won his last four decisions. Trout, Drury, and Thaiss homered on consecutive pitches in the third off Chase Anderson (0-2). It was the second time Anderson has given up homers on three straight pitches, the first time occurring when he was with Toronto on Sept. 17, 2020, when the Yankees' Brett Gardner, DJ LeMahieu and Luke Voit went deep against him. Major league home run leader Shohei Ohtani had a mostly quiet night, however, finishing with an RBI single in seven at-bats. Ohtani's RBI single knocked out Anderson with two outs in the third inning. Drury followed with a two-run single off Matt Carasiti before Renfroe hit a three-run triple and newly acquired Eduardo Escobar singled in a run before Moniak's homer. The 13-run third set a Rockies record for runs given up in an inning, and the 24 runs marked the second-most.
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"It's one game," Colorado manager Bud Black said. Nonetheless, the Angels' performance was one for the record books.
