Mike Trout’s first-pitch swing results in homer against Yu Darvish

That Mike Trout hit a home run off Texas right-hander Yu Darvish on Tuesday night wasn’t surprising. The Angels center fielder has already hit three homers off the Rangers ace in two years. What was stunning was that the solo shot to center field came on the first pitch of Trout’s first at-bat of the game.

The ultra-patient Trout rarely swings at the first pitch in any at-bat, and he likes to see as many pitches as he can in his first at-bat of the game to get a feel for what the opposing pitcher is featuring.

Tuesday night marked only the 13th time in 111 games that Trout has swung at the first pitch he has seen in a game. Those swings resulted in four foul balls, one swing and a miss, two groundouts, four flyouts, one double and one home run.

“With a tough pitcher like Darvish, you don’t want to get too behind in the count,” Trout said. “The last couple times I’ve faced him, he’s thrown that 91-mph fastball down the middle, a little away. I put a good swing on it and it went out.”

Will Trout, who entered Wednesday with a .331 average, 19 homers, 32 doubles, eight triples, 68 runs batted in and a major league-high 44 multi-hit games, jump on a few more first-pitch-of-the-game fastballs?

“You mean to keep guys honest? I don’t know,” Trout said. “I might. The thing is, if I flew out, I would have thought that was a bad at-bat.”

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