ANAHEIM, Calif.—José Caballero had three hits and two RBIs, Isaac Paredes homered, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Los Angeles Angels 6–4 on Tuesday night, April 9, despite Mike Trout’s sixth home run.
Harold Ramírez also drove in two runs for the Rays, who have won three of their past four games.
Aaron Civale (2–1) allowed only two more hits after Trout’s two-run shot in the first inning. The right-hander gave up three runs (two earned) in five innings, with four strikeouts. The four earned runs Civale has permitted in three starts have come on three homers.
“No one ever wants to give up homers, but also no one ever wants to have traffic,“ Civale said. ”The more you’re pitching out of the windup, the better. I think every pitcher shares that same sentiment.”
Pete Fairbanks earned his first save despite giving up an RBI single to Luis Rengifo in the ninth. The Angels had runners on first and second with two outs, but Miguel Sanó struck out looking.
“Nobody’s firing on all cylinders right now,“ Rays Manager Kevin Cash said. ”I don’t know the exact reason but sometimes you’ve got to grind through it a little bit. Grind your at-bats and grind your pitches. I felt like we did that tonight.”
Trout has homered in three straight games for the 15th time in his career.
“When they’ve been making mistakes, he’s been making them pay,” Angels Manager Ron Washington said. “His second at-bat, he just missed one. (Civale) hung a breaking ball, and he just didn’t get there. But, no, he’s swinging the bat well.”
Caballero, acquired in an offseason trade with Seattle, has reached base in a career-high 10 consecutive games to open the season. He had an RBI single in the first inning off Patrick Sandoval (1–2) to tie it 2–2. In the fifth, he gave the Rays a 3–2 advantage when he drove in Jose Siri with a double to left field.
It wasn’t a perfect night for the shortstop, though. He booted a grounder up the middle by Nolan Schanuel in the fourth, scoring Brandon Drury to bring the Angels within 4–3.
“The staff, the teammates, they’ve been awesome to me,“ Caballero said. ”They’ve been trying to help me with everything, and I feel comfortable here. That’s why I think it makes me a better player.”
Caballero also stole his fourth base of the season.
Paredes has a nine-game hitting streak, the second-longest of his career. With two hits—including a solo shot to left in the seventh that put the Rays up by two—he is batting .364 (12 for 33) with four homers since starting the season 0-for-9.
After Mickey Moniak lined a base hit in the first inning, Trout connected on an elevated sinker from Civale and drove it just over the wall in left-center. Trout is tied with Boston’s Tyler O’Neill for most homers in the majors.
Curtis Mead drew a leadoff walk and scored on Siri’s double in the second to bring the Rays within 2–1. Mead was initially called out at the plate, but the call was reversed after replay showed he beat the tag.
Sandoval went five innings and allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits and struck out six. The unearned run came in the fourth when Siri scored after Moniak dropped Ramírez’s flyball just inside the right-field line to put the Rays up 4–2.
