Angels’ Mike Trout is slugging his way past a slow start with home runs in 3 straight games

ANAHAIM, Calif. (AP) - Mike Trout saw everything in Tanner Bibee's repertoire during a 10-pitch at-bat in the third inning Saturday night.

The Los Angeles Angels star waded through four fastballs, three sliders, one changeup and one cut-fastball from the Cleveland Guardians ace before striking out on a 95-mph sinker at the top of the zone.

Bibee's best pitch, a cutter that opponents hit just .141 (20 for 142) against last season, was the one that left Trout shaking his head. Trout fouled it off on the seventh pitch of the at-bat.

"I just missed it," Trout said.

He didn’t miss the next one.

Trout crushed Bibee’s cutter 429 feet to center field for a tiebreaking two-run homer in the fifth inning, sparking a seven-run surge that pushed the Angels to a 10-4 win over the Guardians.

"I saw everything he had and he threw me a good changeup, too," Trout said of his 10-pitch battle against Bibee. "For sure, that helped me in (the fifth inning). I think I missed the same pitch in the previous at-bat."

Trout, who’s batting .172 this season, appears to be finding his stroke after getting just one single in 13 at-bats in his first four games. It’s an encouraging sign for the three-time American League MVP who has played an average of just 67 games over the past four seasons, which have been marred by knee, hand, back and calf injuries.

He has just one hit in each of his three last games - going 1 for 4 in each - but all three hits are homers.

"You're talking about Mike Trout," Angels manager Ron Washington said. "I keep hearing about what happened the last couple of years, but Mike Trout is Mike Trout. I'm not surprised by anything he does out there. Nothing. On the defensive side, on the basepaths, with the bat, I am not surprised."

Trout and Logan O'Hoppe have homered in three consecutive games, a first for O'Hoppe and the 16th time Trout has homered in at least three straight. It marked the first time in four years that the same two Angels players have homered in three straight games after Shohei Ohtani and Jared Walsh accomplished the feat June 18-20, 2021.

Trout, who has always struggled to hit high-velocity fastballs at the top of the zone, said he made an adjustment with the positioning of his hands entering the season, but he said his primary focus in the box is above the neck.

"I don't think it's mechanics, I think it's keeping the head still," Trout said. "When it sways back and forward, the ball starts moving, so I'm just trying to keep it simple. When the head is still, I see everything, and the swing is right."