Welcome back Justin Upton!!! LA Angels rout Jays

The LA Angels have been waiting for Justin Upton all season to come back from the IL.  They have to wait no longer as Upton came back in a big way Monday.

If anyone had any questions about if LA Angels outfielder Justin Upton would experience any rust after being out of action for close to three months.  Those questions were answered with one big swing of Upton’s bat in the second inning against the Blue Jays Monday night.

On the first pitch Upton saw from his friend and former teammate Edwin Jackson was tattooed by Upton for a 429-foot home run to left-center to tie the game at 1.  Upton’s blast sparked a seven-run second inning as Kole Calhoun followed with his 15th homer of the season to give the Angels a 2-1 lead.

Video of Justin Upton’s first at-bat of the season courtesy of Fox Sports West and Sporting News MLB tweet.

Three batters later Mike Trout hit a laser beam double over the head of Cavan Biggio that scored two more runs for a 4-1 lead.  Finally Shohei Ohtani stayed hot hitting an opposite-field three-run homer to left to make it 7-1 and that was the end of Edwin Jackson’s night after pitching only 0.2 innings following opener Derrick Law.

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The Angels continued to extended their lead a run in the third pn a Wilfredo Tovar single to make it 8-1 and then a Justin Bour sacrifice fly made it 9-1.  The 10th and final run for the Angels came on an absolute blast by Trout to dead center that travelled 456 feet and put the Angels up 10-1 in the sixth.

Felix Pena pitched well after his opener, Luis Garcia, gave up a first inning homer to Biggio cruising through the first five innings he pitched.  In the seventh Pena ran into some trouble giving up a two-run shot to Randal Grichuk, the man the Angels drafted ahead of Mike Trout in 2009 (they drafted Trout with the very next pick).

Then Biggio hit his second homer of the game a two-run shot to left in the 8th inning which ended Pena’s night as it pulled the Blue Jays within five at 10-5, but the Angels bullpen shut the Blue Jays rally down pitching two innings of scoreless relief to nail down the 10-5 victory.

Upton ended the game going 2 for 4 with a home run and two RBIs. Trout went four for five with a home run and three RBIs and two runs scored and Ohtani was 2 for 5 with a home run and three RBIs.

This was a night to remember for Upton and the Angels as they again inch to within one game of the .500 mark with the victory. They will try again to even their record on Tuesday as they Tyler Skaggs to the mound against the Blue Jays Marcus Stroman.

With Justin Upton back in the line-up and Andrelton Simmons possibly back within the next week the Angels line-up will finally be full strength for the first time all season.  This could be a fun rest of the season.  With a little luck and some solid pitching you could see a playoff berth come October for the first time since 2019.