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.
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