BOSTON — Mike Trout is trying not to let the home run drought bother him.
Even though Trout entered Wednesday’s game stuck in a 26-game stretch without a homer, he said the fact that he’s still getting hits has kept him optimistic.
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“The homers will come,” Trout said. “Just stay with the process. I know I’m going through a skid where I haven’t had one, but I’ve hit some balls hard. They just haven’t gone out. I’m not worried about it.”
Trout is nearing the longest homer drought of his career. He went 28 games without a home run when he was stuck on 398 career homers late last season.
Trout, who has 20 home runs this season, has only hit two homers since the All-Star break, and none since Aug. 10. Since his last home run, he’s hit .267 with a .679 OPS. He has hits in eight of his past nine games, with a .297 average and a .728 OPS in that span. He doubled off the center field fence on Tuesday night, hitting the ball 106 mph.
Trout said he’s still not seeing the ball as well as he would like, which he attributed to the same problem that has dogged him for the last couple of years. He gets his weight forward too soon, which makes his head move, which makes it tough for him to see the ball. He has sporadically used a small drop step with his back foot, which is intended to help him stay back.
“I’m just trying to eliminate head movement right now,” Trout said. “When the ball starts moving, that’s when I get out of whack, get late.”
For the season, Trout is hitting .243 with an .800 OPS.
“Obviously with Mike, we always expect him to get a hit or a homer or something every single day or every at-bat,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. “I think you just watch the consistency of it, where it’s 0-and-2 to a walk. It’s just that constant, professional at-bat you get from Mike. I’m not saying he’s perfect, but that’s what you can appreciate.”
HEAVY LIFTING
A day after Reid Detmers threw a career-high 112 pitches, he said he didn’t feel any different than he would after a normal start.
“You’re sore after every start,” Detmers said. “It’s not any more. It depends on how stressful the outing was. I wouldn’t say I’m any more sore today than any other start. I feel like I’m in a good spot.”
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Detmers had been limited to around 90 to 100 pitches in most of his starts this season. Suzuki said Tuesday night was the right situation to push him because the weather was cool and because, even though he threw so many pitches, they weren’t high-stress pitches. The Red Sox had only three baserunners, and none after the third inning. His pitch count climbed because of foul balls and strikeouts.
Detmers didn’t seem inclined to push for more outings with high pitch counts.
“There’s just a lot of analytics and like numbers and stuff that go into it,” Detmers said. “Once you get to the seventh, if you’ve got three guys throwing 100 in the bullpen, why not (use them)? Obviously if the pitcher has a low pitch-count through seven, he can go, but I just think health-wise, guys are trying to pitch all season and not get hurt.
“I know they used to throw all the time back in the day and they didn’t get hurt, so I don’t know.”
NOTES
Right-hander George Klassen (back) has continued playing catch, but he has not thrown from the mound since he was placed on the injured list on Aug. 30. …
The Angels didn’t start any of their left-handed hitters on Wednesday night. Red Sox starter Jake Bennett came into the game holding lefties to a .401 OPS, compared with .677 for righties. …
Shortstop Arjun Nimmala has hit four home runs in his last seven games at Double-A. Nimmala, who was the key player the Angels acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays in the José Soriano trade, is considered the organization’s top prospect. He will play in the Arizona Fall League.
UP NEXT
Angels (LHP Yusei Kikuchi, 1-5, 4.96 ERA) at Nationals (RHP Cade Cavalli, 12-5, 3.12 ERA), Friday, 3:45 p.m. PT, ABTV, 830 AM
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