The Los Angeles Angels franchise had its debut season in 1961. Their 70-91 record wasn't too bad for an expansion team, but they obviously had a ways to go. It took them 18 years to score their most runs in a game and that record held until today. Well, until last night.
What's the LA Angels franchise record for runs in a single game?
The Angels scored 24 runs in a lopsided victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto. The Jays were 48 games under .500 so clearly, there was a large mismatch, and the Angels took full advantage.
This time around the Rockies weren't quite as awful as that Toronto team, but the Angels took it to them. After suffering a frustrating loss the night before, it's clear the Angels had their sights set on domination. Thanks to newcomers like Eduardo Escobar and David Fletcher, the team took off early.
Escobar singled in his first Angels at-bat and two batters later, David Fletcher drove him in along with Hunter Renfroe to give the Angels a 2-0 lead. This lead would've stood up thanks to Griffin Canning's brilliance on the mound, but they clearly wanted more.
The third inning was the Angels best of the night and one of the best in team history. In fact, it tied the franchise record which was set on two different occasions.
The highlight of this third inning was the back-to-back-to-back home runs hit by Mike Trout, Brandon Drury, and Matt Thaiss. Not only did the Angels hit three home runs in a row, but they came on three straight pitches! Other highlights in the third were a two-run single hit by Brandon Drury, a three-run double hit by Hunter Renfroe, and a two-run homer hit by Mickey Moniak.
As if a 13-run inning wasn't enough, the Angels tacked on eight more runs the following inning. Mickey Moniak hit a two-run double to give the Angels their 20th run of the night, and then David Fletcher hit a three-run homer in his first game back with the Angels since April to extend the lead.
The Angels wound up tying the record on a Taylor Ward groundout, and breaking the franchise record on a Taylor Ward groundout. A late home run hit by Brenton Doyle broke the shutout, but the Angels had won their most lopsided game in team history and one of the most lopsided games in MLB history.
Both Hunter Renfroe (in his first game at first base this season) and Mickey Moniak went 5-for-5 on the night, and the Angels did all of this with Shohei Ohtani recording just one hit in seven at-bats. Every starter not named Ohtani had at least two hits, and every starter including Ohtani drove in at least one run.
This was as insane of a performance I've ever seen in baseball. This Angels team was struggling to score runs with just four runs in their last three games, and they broke out in the biggest way possible last night. The newcomers had big games, and the stars didn't have to do much. Do they have it in them to break this record of 25 runs anytime soon?