CHICAGO — Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout sprung to life just in time.
Ohtani hit a pair of two-run homers and Trout hit one to power the Angels to a 12-5 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday, locking up a series victory before a trip to Houston.
Although the Houston Astros are currently trailing the surprising Texas Rangers in the American League West, the defending World Series champion Astros remain a measuring stick for the Angels to show whether they are capable of contending for the postseason.
The Angels’ chances in this four-game series are much better if Ohtani and Trout are hitting the way they can, as opposed to the way they have lately.
Ohtani hit .140 over a 13-game stretch prior to Tuesday night, when he hit his 13th homer of the season.
On Wednesday, Ohtani blasted a 425-foot homer in the third inning and then a 459-foot shot in the fourth. The second homer was initially measured by StatCast at 476 feet, which would have been the longest of his career, before it was recalculated.
It was Ohtani’s first multi-homer game of the season, but the fifth time this year that he and Trout had homered in the same game.
Trout drilled a 461-foot homer in the first inning, his 13th homer of the season.
Trout had been cold at the plate for most of the month of May, although he’d shown some encouraging signs with three multi-hit games in the past week. Last week he homered in back-to-back games.
Taylor Ward, who has been in a slump for most of the season, also contributed a homer and a single. It was his second straight multi-hit game, with a homer in both.
The offensive barrage allowed the Angels to preserve their top relievers for the Astros series.
Starter Jaime Barría got through five innings on 90 pitches, the most the converted reliever had thrown since 2021. Barria threw just 64 in his first start of the season, on May 22, and he’d thrown 15 in a relief outing on Saturday.
Right-hander Jacob Webb worked a scoreless sixth and then left-hander Tucker Davidson handled the final three.