Drenched in frigid electric-blue energy drink, Christian Moore still couldn’t believe where he was — and what he had just done.
Exactly a year ago Tuesday, the 22-year-old from Brooklyn was atop the biggest stage of college baseball, winning the Men’s College World Series in Omaha as the Tennessee Volunteers’ star slugger. Now the Angels‘ top prospect — their top selection in the 2024 MLB draft — forged a moment to remember.
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Mike Trout wasn’t the hero. It wasn’t Zach Neto, Logan O’Hoppe or any of the power bats in the Angels’ lineup. Moore provided the game-changing — and game-winning — swings that powered the Angels to a 3-2, 10-inning victory over the Red Sox on Tuesday night at Angel Stadium.
Down 1-0 in the eighth inning, Moore walloped a home run over the left-field wall, flinging his bat into the air like a big league regular who had done it dozens of times before — not just for his second career home run.
He didn’t know he hit a walk-off, two-run home run in the 10th inning. Moore didn’t know that the ball cleared the yellow line on the right-field wall as he hustled into third base as if he just had a tying triple. The excited rookie second baseman wagged his tongue back and forth at the Angels dugout in celebration.
When Moore — who laughed about how cold the cooler full of liquid and ice was postgame — looked up at third base umpire Chris Segal, the youngest-tenured Angel didn’t know what to think when he saw Segal’s finger circle the air, signaling a home run.
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“I didn’t believe it — I was kind of scared to get off the base,” Moore said. “But the umpire, he made it pretty serious that it was a home run, so I was like, ‘I’m gonna take your word for it and go celebrate with my boys.’ ”
Moore’s boys, easily his senior, couldn’t be more proud of their rookie second baseman, stunning their American League East foes with his second and third career home runs, shooting the Angels into potential postseason contention, just a game under .500 — at 39-40 — and 2½ games out of an AL wild-card spot.
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“It’s huge, man,” said starting pitcher Tyler Anderson. “To see guys like that coming up and contributing in big ways on offense and defense, is huge and super valuable.”
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Neto added: “Special player. Watching that was pretty cool. He’s going to be here for a long time.”
Moore became…