Shohei Ohtani on Monday hit his first home run of the season for the Los Angeles Angels, a towering two-run shot in the third inning against Minnesota Twins ace Jose Berrios that fueled a 5-4 victory over the Twins.
Ohtani, who last week made his season debut in his return from elbow surgery, reached base on four of his five plate appearances. His 130m drive off the facade of the video board beneath the second deck in left-center field was the highlight of a three-run, five-hit third inning. Last season, the American League Rookie of the Year went deep 22 times in 326 at-bats.
Tommy La Stella hit the go-ahead homer against Berrios (6-2) in the sixth, his team-leading 10th long ball of the season in 36 games.
Photo: AFP
Jorge Polanco and Marwin Gonzalez each hit two-run homers off Angels starter Tyler Skaggs (4-3), but the Twins were not able to overcome this uncharacteristic vulnerability by their All-Star right-hander.
Berrios allowed five runs and a career-high 12 hits in 5-2/3 innings, his shortest start of the year, while walking three.
The Angels improved to 5-2 on their current road trip.
Mariners 6, Athletics 5
Omar Narvaez drilled the game-winning single to left field with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning as hosts the Seattle Mariners scored twice in the frame to rally to a 6-5 victory over the Oakland Athletics.
Seattle were one strike away from losing when Domingo Santana tied it up by lacing a 2-2 fastball from Oakland right-hander Joakim Soria (1-3) down the left field line for a double.
The ball landed about 30cm fair and pinch runner Dee Gordon easily scored the tying run from second base.
Narvaez followed with the winning hit and Santana easily scored as the throw from Athletics left fielder Robbie Grossman was off the mark.
The Mariners halted a four-game losing streak and won for just the third time in 15 games.
Ramon Laureano homered with two outs in the top of the 10th inning to give Oakland a 5-4 lead. Seattle had tied the game 4-4 in the eighth on Daniel Vogelbach’s three-run shot.
Additional reporting by Reuters
Also on Monday, it was:
‧ Diamondbacks 9, Pirates 3
‧ Astros 8, Tigers 1
‧ Phillies 7, Brewers 4
‧ White Sox 5, Indians 2
‧ Orioles at Yankees: postponed
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