Trout aims to play when Angels face White Sox again

Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout hopes his injured right toe feels better in time for Saturday's game against the host Chicago White Sox.

Pain in the toe prompted Angels manager Brad Ausmus to pull Trout in the fifth inning of Friday's 5-4 win.

"I felt a little bit by the first, second inning, and it just got worse," Trout told reporters. "I've been dealing with it for a little bit now. Just tried to play through it, but I was really sore. We'll see how it goes."

The Angels want to be smart with Trout, who is putting together yet another superstar campaign with a .291 batting average, 45 homers, 104 RBI and 11 stolen bases in 133 games. Los Angeles is out of the playoff race and can afford to give its prized outfielder an extra day or two of rest to heal his toe.

Naturally, Trout has other ideas.

"The goal is to come here (Saturday) and try to play," Trout said.

Ausmus ultimately will have the final say in whether Trout takes the field. The Angels skipper interrogated the outfielder Friday when he noticed Trout sitting on the bench in the dugout, which is unusual for him.

"I just asked him how the foot was," Ausmus said. "Because he's generally not going to come to me (and ask out), but if I ask him, he's honest, and he said it was killing him. This type of thing is probably going to flare up, on and off, the rest of the season."

The White Sox are dealing with an injury of their own, but it involves their manager. Rick Renteria missed Friday's game and is expected to miss the remainder of the series as he recovers from shoulder surgery.

Bench coach Joe McEwing is managing in Renteria's place. He raved about shortstop Tim Anderson, who leads the American League with a .333 batting average and hit his 16th home run Friday.

"Timmy can hit one through nine in the lineup," said McEwing, who batted Anderson leadoff. "Right now, the at-bats he's having and his approach at the plate, he's in an amazing position, maybe the best I've seen him throughout his career of understanding what each pitcher's trying to do to him in certain situations."

White Sox right-hander Dylan Covey (1-7, 6.88 ERA) is slated to make his 11th start of the season. In three career appearances (two starts) against the Angels, he is 0-1 with a 7.71 ERA.

Angels left-hander Andrew Heaney (3-4, 4.16) will make his 15th start. He has enjoyed success against Chicago throughout his career, posting a 2-0 record with a 2.10 ERA in four starts.

The Angels hope a strong final month can help the team move past a trying summer.

"We're just trying to win ballgames," Trout said. "We're going to play a lot of teams these next couple weeks that have a chance to make the playoffs, and we're trying to spoil that.

"You want to be in a playoff race, but we're going to finish the season strong and try to win ballgames."

--Field Level Media