Trout's two-run shot added insult to injury for Detroit fans, landing in the outfield seats and bouncing up onto a concourse above ex-skipper Sparky Anderson's retired No. 11.
Angels teammate Mark Trumbo, who connected with a 415-foot shot to left on Tuesday, playfully disputed the estimated distances of the home runs. "Conspiracy," Trumbo said. "League-wide conspiracy. You've got to hit it to the middle of the field, I'm convinced now."
Playing the game off the field
Oakland's Josh Reddick homered, but former Phillie Roy Oswalt got the last laugh, allowing the Athletics only two other hits in a 6-1 win for the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night.
Though the game was over, Reddick was still in a fighting mood afterward. "I don't feel like he was very good. I felt like we had a lot of swing and misses," he said of Oswalt. "We had a pretty good go at him. . . . I don't feel like his stuff was very far out there."
It's understandable that Reddick was miffed. The 34-year-old Oswalt (3-1) worked ahead and painted the corners like an old master. One curveball was clocked at 57 m.p.h. His fastball hit 91.
"That's me, that's my game," Oswalt said. "I'm the same pitcher I've been the last 12 years."
Reddick later took to Twitter to apologize for his remarks and then repeated the remark without benefit of social media. "I'm not going to bad-mouth anyone," he said before the Wednesday's game. "That's not me."
Except, uh, it is.
Draft spending drops
Spending by teams in baseball's amateur draft dropped by 11 percent in the first year of restrictions imposed under the new labor contract.
Teams allocated $207.8 million to draft picks, down from $233.6 million last year though still the second-highest annual total, according to figures compiled by Major League Baseball. The decline in the first round was even more pronounced, a 17 percent fall from $89.5 million to $74.3 million this year.
Just 10 teams exceeded their signing-bonus pool, incurring a total luxury tax of $1.6 million. But no team reached the second level of the tax, which would cause a club to forfeit its next first-round draft pick.
Under the latest labor deal, two aims were to slow spending on prospects through the draft and to get picks to sign sooner.
The decline in spending was the first since 2006.
Officer cited for racial heckling
Leominster, Mass., police Officer John Perrault was put on paid leave Wednesday after an internal investigation found that he had directed a racial slur at Carl Crawford during a July 5 game in New Hampshire in which the Boston outfielder was making a minor-league rehabilitation stint.
Perrault was suspended pending a disciplinary hearing scheduled for next week at which he could face more severe punishment, and even could be fired, Mayor Dean Mazzarella and Police Chief Robert Healey said.
"It surprised me he was a police officer," Crawford said. "It's disappointing . . .. I just want to put that stuff behind me and not worry about that stuff anymore."
So do we.
Contact Michael Harrington at mharrington@phillynews.com.
This article contains information from the Associated Press.
