Angels win in Houston after fan pulls ball from Mike Trout’s glove

HOUSTON — The most memorable out of Tyler Anderson’s gem was an out that he didn’t even get.

Anderson took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and recently homer happy Angels hit two more in a 4-1 victory over the Houston Astros on Saturday night.

The lasting image of the game, though, will be an Astros fan grabbing a foul ball out of Mike Trout’s glove as he tried to make a catch.

Trout leaped and reached over the wall to snag a ball hit by Yainer Diaz. Before he pulled the ball back, though, the fan yanked it out of his glove. Trout and manager Ron Washington each pleaded separately with first base umpire Alan Porter that fan interference should have been called.

Porter explained to Trout – and to a pool reporter after the game – that it’s not fan interference if the ball leaves the field of play.

“The fly ball was in the stands – it was not over the field of play,” Porter said. “Once the ball is outside of the field of play, the fielder goes into the stands at his own risk. So, the ball being touched by the fan does not create spectator interference at that point.”

Trout was good-natured about the whole thing, even going so far as to invite the fan – identified by The Athletic as Jared Whalen – and his son to meet outside the Angels clubhouse after the game.

Trout signed the ball and gave them a bat. He also posed for a photo.

“They were really apologetic,” Trout said. “Obviously, didn’t really affect the game. I got a kid myself. That kid was probably 9 years old… They’re really nice people.”

It was easy for Trout to be forgiving because the play ended up being academic. First, he said the fan actually got a finger on the ball even before he caught it, so the ball would have been dead anyway. Second, Anderson got Diaz on the next pitch.

It was a sharp contrast to a similar play during last year’s World Series, when a fan at Yankee Stadium pulled the ball from the glove of Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts. In that case, Betts caught the ball over the field of play and his momentum took him to the wall, where the fan grabbed his glove and pried out the ball. Interference was called, and Major League Baseball subsequently banned the fan from attending games.

This incident overshadowed an impressive performance from Anderson.

He retired the first 10 hitters of the game before getting into a self-inflicted jam in the fourth, when he walked the bases loaded. Anderson then struck out Jeremy Peña and then he got Diaz on a lineout, preserving the shutout and the no-hitter.

Slugger Yordan Alvarez had the Astros’ first hit of the night with two outs in the sixth. Anderson then issued a walk, ending his night.

“We needed him to slow those bats down,” Washington said, “and he did it. He really slowed those bats down. We needed him to do that. I think that’s his best one of the year, including spring training, and up to the three starts that he’s had already this season.”

Right-hander Ryan Johnson struck out Peña to preserve the shutout. Brock Burke, Ryan Zeferjahn and Kenley Jansen each worked an inning to finish off the victory. Zeferjahn allowed a run, which simply created a save situation for Jansen.

The bullpen had some margin for error because the lineup continues to mash balls over the fence at an impressive rate.

The Angels have now hit 25 homers in the last nine games, the most in franchise history for any nine-game stretch.

Nolan Schanuel’s homer was his first of the season and then Taylor Ward his his fourth of the season, all in the last four games.

Trout drove in the Angels’ first two runs with a single up the middle in the first inning.