Archie Bradley, Anthony Rendon continue to progress from injuries as Angels rally over Tigers
This Angels season has had its fair share of injury misery.
In the middle of that misery were the injuries to Anthony Rendon (wrist) and Archie Bradley (elbow) that were bizarre in nature and/or how they happened.
The team’s athletic trainer, Mike Frostad, has expressed optimism over the return of at least Bradley, but both have made progress in their rehab.
Rendon partially dislocated a tendon in his right wrist, a discomfort he felt during his third at-bat of a game May 8. He had surgery to repair the issue at the end of June, which had an estimated recovery time of four to six months.
Recently, he was cleared to add throwing across the field and hitting in the batting cages to his routine.
“He’s doing a lot of things on the field that we weren’t sure he was gonna get to at this point,” interim manager Phil Nevin said of Rendon.
Shohei Ohtani hits two homers and Mike Trout also goes deep as the dynamic duo reminds the Angels how much they do for the club in a 10-0 win over Tigers.
Rendon is expected to return for spring training in 2023.
Bradley fractured his elbow falling over the dugout railing while trying to get to the Angels brawl with the Seattle Mariners on June 26.
The team was unsure about his timeline to recover and whether he would return to pitch this season. His recovery required a minimum of four weeks of no throwing.
More than two months since getting injured, Bradley is scheduled to throw off a mound in a bullpen session Wednesday.
He will be evaluated again to see how he feels after that session. There is still no set timeline for his return.
Trout hits his 31st home run
Nevin knows best the limited impact a solo home run can have in a game. After all, he did watch as his Angels hit seven of them on the way to an August loss to the Oakland Athletics.
On Tuesday against the Detroit Tigers, solo home runs gave the Angels a promising lead they were able to carry through most of the game. The Tigers tied the score in the eighth inning, with the score remaining tied into the 10th. Then Magneuris Sierra hit a walk-off bunt for a 5-4 victory, the Angels’ 60th win of the season.
“I feel more than happy,” Sierra said of getting to celebrate his walk-off bunt with his teammates. “A new experience I got to live tonight.”
Mike Trout picked up where he left off in Monday’s game against the Tigers in his first at-bat Tuesday.
In the first inning, with no one on and one out, Trout launched the first pitch delivered to him by Tigers starter Eduardo Rodriguez and parked it by the hedges behind the center-field wall.
It was his 31st home run of the season and his third straight game in which he’s hit a home run. The shot also further proved just how good Trout said he’s been feeling since returning from a back injury on Aug. 19.
The impressive evolution of Shohei Ohtani’s new sinker was on display Saturday against the Houston Astros, showcasing another ‘difference-making pitch.’
“Just getting good pitches and hitting. Putting good swings on them,” Trout said of his consecutive home runs. “Starting to get some timing back, still missing some pitches.”
Since his return, he’s hit seven home runs and has logged a hit in 13 of 17 games.
“It’s definitely a lot more fun when you’re winning,” he continued of his home run.
Tuesday’s home run party also included the third time the Angels have hit them back to back. Mike Ford and Jo Adell hit solo home runs in the second.
“Anytime your big guys get off to a jump like that it kind of shoots energy through the whole dugout,” Nevin said of the game’s early home runs.
Go beyond the scoreboard
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