Mike Trout takes part in 6th back-to-back-to-back HR sequence of career as Angels surge past Yankees

Mike Trout’s sustained excellence has often been hidden behind the mediocrity of the team he’s starred for over the past decade and a half. But there are times when he’s afforded the spotlight his talent deserves. A trip to New York to play the Yankees this week paved the way for more of those opportunities, and Trout has made the most of them, reminding the world of his Hall of Fame trajectory.

In the top of the first inning Tuesday, the three-time AL MVP and 11-time All-Star hit his third home run in two days, and his fifth of the young season. The 34-year-old took a 94-mph four-seam fastball from Ryan Weathers on a 432-foot ride well over the center-field wall in Yankee Stadium.

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He accounted for the first of three straight Angels homers that jumpstarted their 7-1 victory.

Trout has now taken part in a back-to-back-to-back home-run sequence six times in his 16-season career, according to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs, who cited Elias Sports and noted that Trout is tied with Adrián Beltré and J.D. Drew for the most such instances by a player during at least the expansion era (1961).

Trout’s power transferred to outfielder Jo Adell, who launched a 445-foot blast on Weathers’ next pitch, and then to designated hitter Jorge Soler, who lifted a 399-foot long ball in the subsequent at-bat.

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All three taters tattooed Weathers’ four-seam fastball.

Weathers remained in the game and actually went five innings, piling up 10 strikeouts along the way. That didn’t necessarily soften the blow of the five total runs he allowed, though. Oswald Peraza also homered off him in the top of the fourth.

While Tuesday’s contest was lopsided, the Angels (9-9) and Yankees (9-8) started the week off with a bang. Monday’s series opener doubled as the second game since 1900 to feature MLB’s top-four active home-run leaders. The other arrived in 1956, when Gil Hodges and Duke Snider of the then-Brooklyn Dodgers faced off against Stan Musial and Hank Sauer of the St. Louis Cardinals on June 12 of that year.

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The Dodgers won that game in St. Louis 6-4, with Snider fittingly hit a two-run dinger in the top of the first inning.

Meanwhile, on Monday, the game’s current leaders in that department — Trout, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Paul Goldschmidt — shared the diamond.

Trout and Judge put on a show, each homering twice. Yankees outfield Trent Grisham deposited a pair of big flies as well, including one that tied the game in the bottom of the ninth, setting the stage for a walk-off, 11-10 win soon after.

On Tuesday, Trout headlined the power-charged series.