Oh what a night in Anaheim! Mike Trout & Angels take Round 1 in battle of MVPs

Thanks to interleague play baseball fans get to see intriguing matchups such as 2-time MVP Mike Trout and the LA Angels square off with the upstart Milwaukee Brewers & reigning MVP Christian Yelich.

Both Mike Trout and Christian Yelich have started off 2019 on fire and now LA Angels fans get to see Yelich firsthand for a three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers.  Monday night the Angels used the long ball and strong pitching to take a 5-2 victory over the Brewers.

The Angels have now won four in a row after a 1-6 start to the season. There were many stars for the Angels on this night and we saw may heroes for the Halos on this night. Early in the game with the Angels trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the second inning Tommy La Stella strode to the plate.

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La Stella ripped a ball to right field and the ball just barely cleared the yellow home run line to give the Angels a 2-1 lead.  Yelich made his presence felt in the inning as he made a diving catch of a Jonathan Lucroy line drive and throwing out Albert second as he was almost to third when Yelich made the catch.

Trout one-upped Yelich an inning later as he robbed him of a potential extra base hit as he jumped at the wall to make a tremendous catch.  This all happened in the first four innings.

Meanwhile Trevor Cahill had his second impressive start giving up two runs in six innings with eight strikeouts and just one walk.  Thanks to Andrelton Simmons smacking a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth inning breaking a 2-2 tie that would prove to be the difference in the game.

Cahill turned the ball over to the Angels league-leading bullpen and they delivered again as Hansel Robles, Ty Buttrey, and Cody Allen pitched three innnings of scoreless relief allowing only one hit while striking out two to secure Cahill’s first victory as an Angel.

Justin Bour who has been in a severe slump hitting under .100 for the season provided some insurance in the bottom of the 8th inning smacking his first Angel home run, a two-run shot to right field to make it 5-2 and the Angels had their fourth straight win.

This game is exactly the blueprint that Angels GM Billy Eppler envisioned when he was putting the team together this Winter.  A quality start from Trevor Cahill, excellent defense and bullpen work, and some timely hitting from two of his acquisitions Tommy La Stella and Justin Bour providing the offensive firepower to back Cahill’s strong start.

The 1-6 start now seems like a distant memory and despite not home ring in his fifth consecutive game, Mike Trout still made an impact with his robbery of Yelich.  Yep the Angels have been firing on all cylinders the past four games and it has been fun to watch.  Hopefully this will continue over the rest of the season and the Angels can finally get back to the playoffs for the first time since 2014.

Let’s see what tomorrow brings as another Eppler acquisition Matt Harvey takes the mound for his third start of the young season. Harvey is very familiar with the Brewers having pitched in their division in 2018 so we will see if he can tame the Brew Crew to clinch a series victory.  It will be fun.