ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Angels' offense answered back against the Washington Nationals after last night's humbling defeat, 15-9, with a solid 8-2 victory, which was jump-started by an explosive seventh inning where the Halos scored six runs. The long ball was evident throughout the offensive production for the Halos, as Mike Trout catapulted the offense with a game-tying home run, Kevin Newman's first home run of the season, and a Gustavo Campero homer to put the Nats away and force a rubber match on Sunday afternoon.
Mike Trout, the goat that keeps on giving 🎁 pic.twitter.com/vJOvCOr3F9
— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) June 29, 2025
Trout mentioned in the post-game presser that he has been seeing the ball frankly better since coming off the IL, and he has been presenting that in the numbers as he is posting a slash line of .231/.345/.447, along with 13 homers in 56 games played this year.
The pivotal seventh inning for the Halos was started by Trout's game-tying home run on a 0-1 four-seamer down and was immediately followed by a Christian Moore RBI single that gave the Angels their first lead of the ball game. Following that, Newman decided to break out and hit a massive go-ahead three-run homer to break the game wide open, 6-2.
"Just a next-man-up mentality and scratched together six runs," Newman said to the media in the post-game, "which was enough to hold onto the lead and get the win.”
KEVIN 😱 pic.twitter.com/n4MOmmeDla
— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) June 29, 2025
Halos starter Kyle Hendricks also had a solid outing on the mound against Washington, going five innings, only allowing one earned run on five hits while also striking out five. This start is much better in comparison to his previous start against the Houston Astros, as although he did toss five innings as well, he allowed five runs, three of them earned, on eight hits. Hendricks mentioned in the post-game presser that this start felt better than the last from the first hitter.
Kyle Hendricks on his realization that this outing was different from his last:
— Adrian Medina (@AdrianMedina_16) June 29, 2025
“My pregame bullpens were really good. Right from the first hitter I had action down in the zone and was getting foul balls instead of barrels.” @SportingTrib #RepTheHalo
With this victory, the Halos now sit at a 41-41 record and just one game back from a potential Wild Card spot. They will look to take the series against Washington tomorrow, before having a travel day on Monday to Atlanta to play the Braves on Tuesday for three games, then finish off the roadtrip by playing the Blue Jays for three.
Angels are now 1 game from a Wild Card spot 👀 @SportingTrib #RepTheHalo pic.twitter.com/AZRbzT61ZR
— Adrian Medina (@AdrianMedina_16) June 29, 2025