Ohtani hits 1st HR as Angels top Twins

Tommy La Stella went 3-for-5, hitting what proved to be the game-winning home run in the sixth inning, and Shohei Ohtani hit his first home run of the season to lead the Los Angeles Angels to a 5-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Monday night in Minneapolis. La Stella broke a 4-4 tie with his team-leading 10th homer of the season into the left field bleachers, becoming the first Angels' left-handed batter since Mo Vaughn in 1999 to hit 10 home runs in his first 36 games of a season.

Mike Trout and Albert Pujols both went 3-for-5, Ohtani went 2-for-3 with two walks and two RBIs, and Kole Calhoun added two hits for Los Angeles, which won for the fifth time in seven games. Tyler Skaggs (4-3) picked up the win, allowing four runs on five hits over five innings. Hansel Robles pitched a perfect ninth to notch his fourth save.

Jorge Polanco and Marwin Gonzalez each homered for Minnesota, which has lost back-to-back games for just the third time this season. Jose Berrios (6-2), who had won a career-best five consecutive starts, took the loss, failing to go six innings for the first time in 10 starts, dating back to last season. Berrios allowed a career-worst 12 hits and five runs over 5 2/3 innings. He walked three and struck out three. The Twins took a 2-0 lead in the first when Mitch Garver led off with a walk and then scored on Polanco's eighth home run of the season, a 401-foot drive into the second deck in left field.

The Angels rebounded to take a 3-2 lead in the third when they sent eight men to the plate. La Stella opened the inning with a single and then scored on a single by Trout that bounced past Gonzalez and rolled into the right field corner for a two-base error. Ohtani then followed with a 429-foot homer off the facing of the second deck above the bullpen in left-center. Los Angeles extended its lead to 4-2 in the fifth when Andrelton Simmons led off with a single, stole second and then scored on a single by Pujols.

The Twins tied it in the bottom half of the inning on a two-run homer by Gonzalez into the second deck in left-center, his fourth of the season. La Stella, who entered the season with 10 career home runs in 947 plate appearances, then put the Angels back in front for good in the sixth with his home run.

--Field Level Media

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