Ohtani hits 1st homer of season, Angels beat Twins 5-4
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Shohei Ohtani hit his first home run of the season for the Los Angeles Angels, a towering two-run shot in the third inning against Minnesota ace Jose Berrios that fueled a 5-4 victory over the Twins on Monday night.
Ohtani, who made his 2019 debut last week in his return from Tommy John elbow surgery, reached base on four of his five plate appearances. His 429-foot drive off the videoboard facade beneath the second deck in left-center field was the highlight of a three-run, five-hit third inning. The AL Rookie of the Year went deep 22 times in 326 at-bats in 2018.
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.
Jorge Polanco and Marwin Gonzalez each hit two-run homers off Angels starter Tyler Skaggs (4-3), but the Twins weren’t 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, striking first against a Twins team that took the best record in baseball into the evening.
CHICAGO (AP) — Yoán Moncada hit two of Chicago’s four solo homers and Reynaldo López pitched 7 2/3 effective innings in a win over Cleveland.
José Abreu and Welington Castillo also connected for Chicago, which earned its third straight win. The White Sox improved to 4-3 against the Indians this season after they went 5-14 against the Tribe last year.
López (3-4) allowed one earned run and two hits, struck out six and walked two. It was the right-hander’s first win since he fanned 14 in a 4-1 victory over Detroit on April 28.
Francisco Lindor hit his 13th career leadoff homer for Cleveland, which lost for the third time in four games. Lindor also hit a sacrifice fly in the third, singled in the sixth and walked in the eighth, but that was pretty much it for the light-hitting Indians.
Shane Bieber (2-2) allowed five runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings in the first road loss of his career.
DETROIT (AP) — Aledmys Diaz, Robinson Chirinos, Jake Marisnick and Alex Bregman homered for Houston, which extended its winning streak to six games with the win over Detroit.
Brad Peacock (4-2) allowed a run and three hits in five innings for Houston, which has won nine of its last 10 games. The AL West-leading Astros knocked Matthew Boyd (4-3) out of the game in four innings, the shortest start of the season for the Detroit lefty. He allowed three runs and five hits and threw 96 pitches.
Houston got homers from its No. 6, 8 and 9 hitters before Bregman added his 13th of the year. The Astros scored three runs in a three-batter span in the second inning, then added two more in the seventh and three in the ninth.
Grayson Greiner hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth for the Tigers.
