Mike Trout hits 40th homer of season

Mike Scioscia will never forget that 2009 summer day in Angel Stadium when Mike Trout, 17 years old and only weeks removed from his senior year at Millville (N.J.) High School, gave the team a taste of what was to come.

“He was hitting balls to the opposite field with a wood bat, seven or eight rows up in the right-field seats, which you just don’t see high school kids do,” Scioscia said. “The scouts were telling us, ‘You’ve got to see this kid when he grows up.’ What was it, two years later, when he grew up and was 19 and in the big leagues?”

Though Trout, a first-round pick in 2009, showed good power potential then, the most home runs he ever hit in a minor league season was 13 in 91 games at double-A Arkansas in 2011.

Then he got to the big leagues and hit 30 homers in 2012, 27 in 2013 and 36 in 2014. Tuesday night, Trout hit a first-pitch, 94-mph fastball from Lance McCullers to left-center field for his 40th homer, only the second time this season Trout has homered on a first pitch.

That made Trout the second player in franchise history to hit 40 homers in a season, joining Troy Glaus, who hit 47 in 2000 and 41 in 2001.

“He quickly showed he can drive the ball out to right field,” Scioscia said, “and when a hitter can do that, there’s no doubt he has the potential to hit a lot of homers.”

Trout wasn’t sure why he hit so few homers in the minor leagues.

“Obviously, the minor leagues are a shorter season, and you’re just putting good swings on the ball,” he said. “Every year, I get more comfortable out there. That’s the biggest thing.”

Power play

After Trout’s homer, Albert Pujols lined a homer to left that traveled an estimated 443 feet with an exit velocity of 110 mph and gave the Angels a 3-0 lead.

It was the 36th homer of the season for Pujols, his 50th against the Astros and 556th of his career, moving him ahead of Manny Ramirez for sole possession of 14th on baseball’s all-time list.

Eject button

Hector Santiago, who gave up two runs and four hits in five innings, was ejected after exchanging words with umpire Chris Conroy after he was pulled in the sixth.

An inning earlier, Santiago escaped a two-on, no-out jam by retiring the middle of the order — Carlos Correa, Jed Lowrie and Evan Gattis.

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com

Twitter: @MikeDiGiovanna