Angels blow lead in 9th to spoil Mike Trout’s 2-homer night

NEW YORK — The Angels’ pitching at the beginning and end of the game spoiled all that they did in the middle.

Mike Trout hit a three-run homer and a two-run homer to help the Angels come all the way back to take an eighth-inning lead after Yusei Kikuchi put them behind by four in the second inning.

And then closer Jordan Romano gave up three runs in the bottom of the ninth and the Angels lost to the New York Yankees, 11-10, on Monday night, with the wild game ending on a wild pitch.

Afterward, Angels manager Kurt Suzuki took some solace in what the hitters did, even in a loss.

“It was a great game,” Suzuki said. “Our guys fought back every single time in that game, back and forth. I’m proud of them. That was a great back and forth match and, unfortunately we came out on the losing side. But for what they did tonight, the fight they showed, I couldn’t be prouder.”

The slugfest in the Bronx was a joy for anyone who likes to watch stars hit homers.

Yankees three-time American League MVP Aaron Judge also hit two homers, one to put the Yankees up in the first and another just after the Angels’ three-time AL MVP had tied the score in the sixth.

Trout’s eighth-inning homer gave the Angels (8-9) their first lead of the game, 10-8.

It was only the fourth time in major league history that two multi-MVP winners had multi-homer games in the same game. The last time it happened was in 1962, when Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle did it. The last time the two players did it for opposing teams was in 1952, when Roy Campanella and Stan Musial accomplished the feat.

“It’s what fans want,” Trout said. “To be able to see something like that is pretty cool.”

It obviously wasn’t as cool for the Angels, though, who ended up on the short end. Trout tried to maintain some perspective on a game in which the Angels did a lot of things right to battle back after the early deficit.

“Obviously, the loss is disappointing but throughout the whole game we battled back and had great at-bats the whole game,” Trout said. “Sometimes it doesn’t go your way at the end.”

After Trout’s homer in the eighth, the Angels needed six more outs to secure the victory. Lefty Drew Pomeranz got the first three in the eighth. Although the Yankees lineup was full of lefties, Suzuki still opted to go with the right-handed Romano in the ninth.

When asked if there was a thought to leaving Pomeranz in the game, Suzuki said: “Yeah, in hindsight. But at the same time, Romano’s been our guy so far this year and he’s been really good. We went with it and didn’t work out. Gotta go get them tomorrow.”

Romano had not allowed a run in his first six games. However, he also hadn’t pitched in a week because the Angels’ victories since then had been lopsided. Romano said it was “tough to tell” if the layoff was a cause of his ineffectiveness.

“It’s tough, especially in a game like that when you keep coming back, offense keeps picking you up,” Romano said. “You really want to have that game, but it didn’t happen. It really sucks.”

Romano gave up a leadoff single to Jazz Chisholm Jr. He then allowed a game-tying two-run homer to Trent Grisham, who had earlier put the Yankees ahead with a three-run homer.

“It looked like it was kind of down and in his sweet spot,” Suzuki said. “He didn’t miss it. Just like the first one he had was down and in his spot, it looked like. Or right down the middle or something. They hit mistakes, and they made us pay tonight.”

José Caballero followed Grisham’s homer with a double down the left field line. He stole third, and then scored the winning run on a wild pitch.

The bottom of the ninth ruined an impressive night from Trout and the rest of the Angels’ offense.

Since Trout began the season with a hot few games, he’d been in a slump, only showing signs of improvement in the past few games.

He homered in the first two games of the season, but then he didn’t hit another until Monday night. On Friday night, though, he hit three balls at 100 mph, including two that went to the warning track. He had three hits on Saturday and Sunday, including two doubles.

In his third trip to the plate on Monday, he came up just a few feet short of a grand slam.

He got the extra distance he needed when he came up in the sixth, crushing a 421-foot blast that left his bat at 109 mph.

That one tied the score at 7-7. Just after Judge restored the Yankees lead to 8-7, the Angels tied it on a Josh Lowe sacrifice fly in the seventh.

And then in the eighth, Trout came up again and hit another no-doubter, this one 445 feet and 109 mph.

It was Trout’s 31st career multi-homer game.

“It’s good to see some fall in and go over the fence,” Trout said. “Like I said from the beginning, I just gotta keep my routine and good things happen.”

As the game turned into a slugfest, it further obscured what was another disappointing outing from Kikuchi.

Kikuchi gave up four runs in 3⅓ innings, on two-run homers from Judge and Caballero. Kikuchi needed 47 pitches just to get through the fourth out of the game.

It was something of a surprise that he even managed to get another six outs before his night came to an end in the fourth inning.

Kikuchi has a 7.50 ERA through four starts, with 10 walks and 19 strikeouts in 18 innings.

“Definitely not being able to pitch the way I wanted since opening series, so I still have that bitter feeling in me right now,” Kikuchi said through his interpreter. “But it’s still April. I have to turn this around, so I’m going to try to do whatever I can to turn this around.”