Trout hits first leadoff homer since 2012, Angels beat Orioles 7-4 to snap 5-game skid

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Mike Trout hit his first leadoff home run since 2012, and the Los Angeles Angels defeated the Baltimore Orioles 7-4 on Tuesday night to snap a five-game losing streak.

Zach Neto had two hits and drove in two runs as the Angels’ six through nine hitters combined for eight of their 11 hits along with five RBIs.

“I hope what we did tonight is something that we can just grow on. It was just a matter of time,” manager Ron Washington said. “It was nice to see some offense. Everybody got involved, there was a lot of energy, so we just got to keep it going.”

Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson hit a towering 414-foot home run in the seventh inning, and Adley Rutschman had three hits.

Griffin Canning (1-3) — who allowed 18 runs (17 earned) in 19 innings in his first four starts — gave up three runs on five hits in five innings and struck out four. It was the right-hander’s first win in 11 starts dating to last season.

Carlos Estévez retired the side in the ninth to pick up his fourth save in five opportunities.

“It was nice to go out there with that lead and know that the offense was going to keep adding on,” Canning said. “Mike set the tone right away and we didn't look back.”

Batting leadoff for the first time since 2020, Trout drove a fastball from Baltimore’s Grayson Rodriguez (3-1) off the auxiliary scoreboard above the wall in right-center field in the first inning to put the Angels on top.

It was the sixth leadoff homer of Trout’s career and first since Sept. 28, 2012. It was Trout’s ninth home run of the season, which ties him for the major league lead.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 11 years and 208 days is the second-longest span between consecutive leadoff homers in MLB history. The longest is 12 years, 286 days by Omar Vizquel.

The Angels had six extra-base hits — including RBI doubles by Luis Rengifo, Logan O’Hoppe and Neto — as they built a 7-0 lead after four innings.

Neto, Jo Adell and Nolan Schanuel had run-scoring singles as the Halos tacked on two runs in the second, third and fourth innings.

The Orioles got on the board with three in the fifth on Henderson’s sacrifice fly and Ryan O’Hearn’s two-run double.

Jackson Holliday singled in the fifth inning for his first hit since April 14 and snapped an 0-for-18 skid.

Rodriguez, who allowed only seven runs in his first four starts, struggled in his second outing against the Angels. The right-hander gave up seven runs and 11 hits with seven strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings.

“I didn't think he executed. Looking back at the replays, a lot of balls were kind of middle of the plate and thigh high. Wrong parts of the plate to the game plan and they made him pay for it,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said of Rodriguez.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Angels: RHP Robert Stephenson said he will undergo Tommy John surgery on his right elbow on April 30, and expects a rehab period of 12-18 months.

UP NEXT

The teams wrap up their season series Wednesday afternoon. RHP Dean Kremer (0-2, 4.91 ERA) goes for Baltimore while the Angels counter with lefty Tyler Anderson (2-2, 1.42 ERA).

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Baltimore Orioles' Gunnar Henderson runs the bases on a solo home run during the seventh inning of the team's baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Baltimore Orioles' Adley Rutschman celebrates scoring off a double hit by Ryan O'Hearn during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Anaheim, Calif. Jackson Holliday also scored. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson, left, picks off Los Angeles Angels' Jo Adell stealing second during the third inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Los Angeles Angels' Luis Rengifo, left, slides past Baltimore Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman to score off a double hit by Zach Neto during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Los Angeles Angels' Jo Adell dives back to first after a pickoff attempt by Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Grayson Rodriguez during the third inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Los Angeles Angels' Logan O'Hoppe gestures after hitting a double to score Taylor Ward during the third inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Los Angeles Angels' Miguel Sano reacts to a wild pitch during the third inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Los Angeles Angels' Zach Neto gestures after hitting a double to score Luis Rengifo during the second inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Los Angeles Angels' Mike Trout, right, celebrates his home run with third base coach Eric Young Sr. during the first inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

JERUSALEM (AP) — The head of the United Nations' atomic watchdog traveled Monday to Iran, where his agency faces increasing difficulty in monitoring the Islamic Republic's rapidly advancing nuclear program as tensions remain high in the wider Middle East over the Israel-Hamas war.

Rafael Mariano Grossi already has warned Tehran has enough uranium enriched to near-weapons-grade levels to make “several” nuclear bombs if it chose to do so. He has acknowledged the agency can't guarantee that none of Iran's centrifuges may have been peeled away for clandestine enrichment.

Those challenges now find themselves entangled in attacks between Israel and Iran, with the city of Isfahan apparently coming under Israeli fire in recent weeks despite it being surrounded by sensitive nuclear sites. Grossi is likely to attend an Iranian nuclear conference there while on his two-day trip to Iran.

“Problems will not disappear," Grossi told an International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors' meeting in March. "They will only get worse. So, we need to address this in a serious way.”

Iranian media said Grossi arrived to Tehran would meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian on Monday afternoon. Grossi will travel to Isfahan on Tuesday before heading back to Vienna, where he plans to give an update to journalists there.

Tensions have grown between Iran and the IAEA since then-President Donald Trump in 2018 unilaterally withdraw America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers. Since then, Iran has abandoned all limits the deal put on its program and enriches uranium to 60% purity — near weapons-grade levels of 90%.

IAEA surveillance cameras have been disrupted, while Iran has barred some of the agency’s most experienced inspectors.

Meanwhile, Iranian officials have increasingly threatened they could pursue atomic weapons.

“For us, making the atomic bomb is easier than not building atomic bomb," said Mahmoud Reza Aghamiri, the chancellor of Tehran Shahid Beheshti University and a specialist in nuclear physics.

Iranian media quoted Aghamiri acknowledging Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had previously said making an atomic bomb is forbidden.

“But if his fatwa and viewpoint is changed, we have ability to build atomic bomb, too,” Aghamiri added.

Aghamiri's comments follow a drumroll of others by Iranian lawmakers, those in its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and a former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran suggesting Tehran could build the bomb.

Iranian diplomats for years have pointed to Khamenei’s preachings as a binding fatwa, or religious edict, that Iran wouldn’t build an atomic bomb.

“We do not need nuclear bombs. We have no intention of using a nuclear bomb,” Khamenei said in a November 2006 speech, according to a transcript from his office. “We do not claim to dominate the world, like the Americans, we do not want to dominate the world by force and need a nuclear bomb. Our nuclear bomb and explosive power is our faith.”

But such edicts aren’t written in stone. Khamenei’s predecessor, Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued fatwas that revised his own earlier pronouncements after he took power following the 1979 Islamic Revolution. And anyone who would follow the 85-year-old Khamenei as the country’s supreme leader could make his own fatwas revising those previously issued.

Meanwhile, tensions between Iran and Israel have hit a new high. Tehran launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel after years of a shadow war between the two countries reached a climax with Israel's apparent attack on an Iranian consular building in Syria killed two Iranian generals and others.

Israel's own nuclear weapons program, widely known by experts though never acknowledged by the country, didn't deter Iran's assault. And now experts increasingly suggest Iran could pursue the bomb itself after a major attack on it.

“With a tiny open attack on Iranian soil by the U.S. and Israel, I believe Iran will conduct its first atomic test," analyst Saeed Leilaz said in April.

Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

The UN nuclear watchdog chief travels to Iran as its monitoring remains hampered

The UN nuclear watchdog chief travels to Iran as its monitoring remains hampered

FILE - International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi waits to meet Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida shakes hands at the prime minister's office in Tokyo Thursday, March 14, 2024. The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog will travel to Iran next week as Tehran's nuclear program enriches uranium a step away from weapons-grade levels and international oversight of the program remains limited, officials said Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool, File)