Mariners at Angels
Mike Trout is heating up as the Los Angeles Angels - fresh off a 5-5 road trip - host the Seattle Mariners on Friday to kick off a three-game series and six-game homestand. The 2014 American League MVP and two-time runner-up went 5-for-6 in his last two games, including a two-run homer, and could continue raking as he is a career .354 hitter with four home runs and 13 RBIs in 65 at-bats against Friday's starter - Seattle ace Felix Hernandez.
"He hasn't swung the bat that poorly up until this point," Los Angeles manager Mike Scioscia told reporters about the 24-year-old Trout, who raised his average 66 points to .286 after the outburst. "But some hits just haven't fallen in. He definitely has better timing in the box and hopefully he's gotten 50-whatever bats out of the way and he's where he needs to be." The Mariners, meanwhile, are 4-2 on their nine-game road trip after a 10-7 victory over Cleveland on Wednesday. It was a rare offensive explosion - highlighted by Robinson Cano's three-run homer in the 10th inning - for Seattle, which has scored four or more runs three times in its last 12 games. Hernandez permitted two earned runs over 18 innings in his first three starts of the season despite struggling with his control and opposes Nick Tropeano, who has performed admirably in replacing the injured Andrew Heaney in the rotation.
TV: 10:05 p.m. ET, ROOT (Seattle), FSN West (Los Angeles)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Mariners RH Felix Hernandez (1-1, 1.00 ERA) vs. Angels RH Nick Tropeano (1-0, 0.84)
Hernandez recorded 13 walks against 20 strikeouts this season - lowering his lifetime ratio to 3.36:1 - after issuing a career high-tying six free passes in a 3-2 victory over the Yankees in New York on Saturday. “When I got into the game, it wasn’t there,'' the 30-year-old Venezuelan and 2010 Cy Young award winner told reporters about his control. "There was a lot of movement on the ball. The ball was going everywhere. It was mechanics. I was behind the ball a little bit. I was all over the place.” Hernandez is 14-14 with a 3.30 ERA in 46 starts versus Los Angeles but 6-1, 1.34 in 11 turns over the past two seasons and has little trouble with the slumping Albert Pujols (.208, home run, seven RBIs 13 strikeouts in 53 at-bats).
Tropeano received a no-decision after allowing one run and five hits in 5 2/3 innings of a 3-2 loss in Minnesota on Sunday after opening the season with a 4-1 victory in Oakland on April 11 with five shutout innings. It appears the 25-year-old New Yorker could remain in the rotation for quite some time after the Angels shut down Heaney (strained flexor tendon) this week. Tropeano is 2-0 with a 3.60 ERA in two starts versus Seattle.
WALK-OFFS
1. Pujols (.148) is hitless in his last 15 at-bats.
2. Hernandez shares the team record with 2,162 strikeouts set by Randy Johnson in 1998.
3. Cano (.246) has six home runs while no other Mariner has more than two and his 14 RBIs are twice as many as his closest teammate (Nelson Cruz).