Mike Trout belts 489-foot home run

— -- Mike Trout belted a 489-foot solo shot to center field in the first inning of the Los Angeles Angels' 8-6 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Friday night, the longest home run by an American League player since ESPN began tracking them in 2006.

The booming homer off Jason Vargas and into the Kauffman Stadium fountains -- the 22-year-old's 18th of the season -- was the longest at the Royals' home park since at least 2006. It surpassed Travis Hafner's 481-foot blast in Kansas City on April 15, 2012.

"I squared it up. I definitely barreled it," Trout said. "I was trying to put a good swing on it and got a pitch I could hit. I'm always looking fastball and reacted. I got a heater."

It also was the longest by an Angel since  Vladimir Guerrero's shot of 484 feet on July 30, 2006.

The previous distance record for an AL player, as measured by ESPN, was a 488-foot shot by Edwin Encarnacion on Sept. 1, 2012.

Trout's home run also was the longest in the majors since Giancarlo Stanton's 494-footer on Aug. 17, 2012.

C.J. Cron's home run an inning later Friday night put the Angels up 2-0 before the Royals rallied with seven runs in the third and another in the fourth to take an 8-2 lead.

Cron went deep again in the fifth. His two-run homer highlighted a four-run inning for the Angels, who didn't score again.

"We had a lot of great opportunities," Trout said. "We could have easily put our heads down when it was 8-2, but we fought back. We just fell short."

Information from ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press was used in this report.