Mike Trout, Albert Pujols hit back-to-back homers as Angels rout Reds

ANAHEIM >> Sometimes it’s been too easy to forget, too simple to ignore the obvious during a lost season that’s been dominated almost from the start by a relentless string of injuries and defeats that have resulted in a last-place standing in the American League West.

The plain fact is, Mike Trout and Albert Pujols can energize the lackluster Angels when required, or needed, as they did during a 9-2 victory Monday over the Cincinnati Reds during an interleague game in front of 34,161 at Angel Stadium.

Trout and Pujols slugged back-to-back homers in the first inning against hapless Reds starter Dan Straily as the Angels erased a 2-0 deficit and went on to win their third consecutive game and their fifth in their last six.

“Great guy to have in the clubhouse,” Trout said of Pujols. “His presence brings everyone together in the clubhouse. Everybody sees it. Everybody sees him going out there and playing hard every day. … He’s fighting for this team. Everyone’s banged up. It’s the end of August.

“We’re just trying to grind through it.”

Straily (10-7) gave up four of the Angels’ five homers in a battle of two of the worst teams in the majors. The Angels went into the game last in the AL West, 20 1/ 2 games behind the division leading Texas Rangers. The Reds were last in the NL Central, 27 games behind the Chicago Cubs.

Trout and Pujols enlivened what could have been just another tedious game between teams heading nowhere and struggling to make it to the season’s finish line. Trout’s homer, a two-run blast in the first, was his 25th in 2016, the fifth consecutive season he’s reached the milestone.

Trout joined Frank Robinson and Eddie Mathews was the only players with 25 homers in five straight seasons before tuing 25. Trout also scored his 100th run of the season for the fifth straight year, joining Alex Rodriquez as the only other player in big league history to do it before he tued 25.

Pujols followed with a bases-empty shot that put the Angels ahead to stay, 3-2. His 26th homer of the season also was the 586th of his career, tying him with Robinson for ninth place on the all-time list. It also was his 1,800th RBI.

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Trout and Pujols hit back-to-back homers for the eighth time in their Angels careers together.

What’s more, Trout and Pujols are the only players in major league history with 25 homers and 100 runs in each of their first five seasons. Trout scored his 100th run Monday. Pujols was already there by the time the first pitch was delivered by Straily.

“It’s special,” Trout said of joining an exclusive club of two, along with Pujols. “I’m fortunate to play with Albert, to be in the same clubhouse as him. Looking at his career, being in the same sentence as him, it’s unbelievable.”

The Angels’ victory was hardly a two-man show, however. Right-hander Matt Shoemaker overcame a rocky start in which Cincinnati first baseman Joey Votto put the Reds ahead with a two-run homer in the first inning and it looked as if it might be a long night.

Shoemaker rebounded to throw six consecutive scoreless innings before yielding to reliever Jose Alvarez to start the eighth. Shoemaker (9-13) gave up two runs and seven hits with seven strikeouts. He did not walk a batter while throwing 92 pitches.

The Angels led 9-2 by the time he departed, thanks in part to homers from Trout, Pujols, C.J. Cron, Jefry Marte and Kole Calhoun. In addition to their homers, Trout, Cron, Marte and Calhoun also doubled and singled as the Angels smacked 14 hits.

“Run support is always great,” Shoemaker said. “Even after that first inning, you’re a little bummed, but you can’t let it bother you. Then we come up and take the lead and it just pumps you up. It’s nice to have that support, especially after giving up a couple of runs.”

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