Jo Adell’s home run drought ended all at once Thursday as he hit two of the Angels’ four homers in an eight-run fifth inning of an eventual 11-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.
Adell hit Zack Littell’s first-pitch slider 408 feet out to center leading off the inning and ended it with a three-run shot to left off Mason Englert.
In between, Taylor Ward hit his second homer of the game and Mike Trout hit the first of his two in the game as the Angels finished the fifth with a 10-1 lead. Four homers in an inning matched the franchise record.
Adell, who hit a career-high 20 homers last season, came into Thursday batting .185 with no homers.
He was the first Angels player since Kendrys Morales in 2012 to homer twice in an inning and the third player in franchise history to do it. Oakland’s Brent Rooker was the only player in the majors to homer twice in an inning last season.
Right-hander Jose Soriano (2-1) gave up one run and five hits while striking out four before being lifted with two outs in the eighth. Ryan Johnson recorded the final four outs for the Angels, who have won four of their last five games and have won each of their first four series this season. The Angels open a three-game series in Houston against the Astros on Friday.