BOSTON, Massachusetts — It hasn't taken Mike Trout long to regain his form after missing a month with a bruised left knee.
Trout had three more hits on Monday (Tuesday in Manila), including a 454-foot homer that was the longest at Fenway Park this year, in the Los Angeles Angels' 7-6 victory over the Boston Red Sox — his second three-hit game in three starts since returning from the injured list on Friday.
"Anybody that knows Mike Trout shouldn't be surprised," Angels manager Ron Washington said. "Mike Trout can still do a lot of things that a lot of people can't do. And he's showing that."
Trout hit a three-run homer in the first inning and singled in his next two at-bats. In the seventh, he grounded into a double play but said he had no problem with his left knee as he tried to beat the relay.
In all, the 11-time All-Star and three-time AL Most Valuable Player is 8 for 14 since coming off the IL to raise his batting average from.179 to.225. It was only his second homer in 35 career games at Fenway Park.
Trout, 33, said he was able to work on his swing while he was out, though he was limited to 30–40 swings per day. The break helped him reset some bad habits he had developed, he said.
The three hits on Monday gave Trout 1,675 in his career and moved him into second place on the franchise list, surpassing Tim Salmon. Garret Anderson holds the Angels record with 2,368.
Zach Neto homered leading off the game, Trout added a three-run shot and Jo Adell put one over the Green Monster to make it 6-0 — all in the first. It was the first time in the 114-year history of Fenway Park that a visiting team has hit three homers in the first inning, according to MLB.com.
"Anytime you set records in a stadium like this, it's pretty special," Trout said. "It's pretty crazy."
Tigers 13, White Sox 1
In Chicago, Kerry Carpenter hit a career-high three homers and drove in five runs to help the Detroit Tigers pound the lowly Chicago White Sox,13-1, on Monday night.
Dillon Dingler and Wenceel Pérez also went deep as Detroit became the first major league team to reach 40 wins this season. Parker Meadows had two hits and scored three times in his season debut after being sidelined by an arm injury.
Jack Flaherty (4-6) pitched six innings of one-run ball in his second straight win. The right-hander allowed four hits, struck out four and walked one.
The Tigers improved to 22-9 in their last 31 games. It was their 11th consecutive win at the White Sox dating to Sept. 1, 2023, matching a franchise record for the longest such streak in an opponent's ballpark.
Chicago finished with five hits in its seventh loss in eight games. Chase Meidroth singled and scored on Vinny Capra's groundout in the sixth, accounting for the team's only run.
Carpenter hit a two-run drive in Detroit's three-run first against Jonathan Cannon (2-7). He connected for another two-run shot in the fourth and a solo drive in the sixth for his 13th homer on the season.
He batted again with two runners on in the eighth. Amid chants of "Kerry! Kerry!" by the Tigers fans in a crowd of 11,852, he flied out to center.