OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - The Los Angeles Angels are still hopeful of avoiding a disabled list stint for injured slugger Mike Trout.
The reigning AL MVP has sat out four straight games for the first time as a regular major leaguer and missed his fifth game in six with a tight left hamstring. He will test the leg running and doing work in the outfield Wednesday.
“I want to play but we’ve got to be smart,” Trout said Tuesday before he had spoken to manager Mike Scioscia. “They don’t want me to go out there to run 50 percent. It’s smart. It’s definitely better. I’ll take BP today.”
Trout didn’t appear in the Angels’ 7-3 win.
“He feels much better just moving around, less stagnant from where he was a couple days ago, so that’s a great sign,” Scioscia said before the game. “He’s going to go through some paces before we feel he’s comfortable to go out there on the field.”
Trout’s hamstring bothered him again during warmups Saturday, and the center fielder was a late scratch for a home game against the Astros. On Monday, general manager Billy Eppler said an MRI exam came back “clean and normal.”
Scioscia will not rush Trout, who is riding a career-best hitting streak of 17 games and batting .355 with eight homers, 21 RBIs and five stolen bases.
Trout considered Tuesday’s hitting session progress and an important step, but this layoff is testing his patience.
“It’s not fun. You can just cheer on your guys, what more can you do?” he said. “I eat seeds, chew some gum and go from there.”
The Angels still would like to keep him off the DL.
“We sure hope so. We never anticipated this being a DL,” Scioscia said. “But we’re going to know more today and then even more tomorrow as to exactly where this is. Right now we’re past the point a little bit of being a backdated because you only go back three days. But we’re going to give him all the time he needs because we just don’t want him healthy we want him doing what he needs to do to be that special player.”
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