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July 18 (UPI) -- Shohei Ohtani smacked his 35th home run of the season to help the Los Angeles Angels beat the New York Yankees for the second consecutive time at Angel Stadium. The blast put Ohtani on track to hit 60 home runs in 2023. The Angels designated hitter clubbed the two-run, 403-foot homer in the bottom of the seventh inning of the 4-3 victory Monday in Anaheim, Calif.
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"It was awesome," Angels manager Phil Nevin told reporters. "Just an incredible deal there. When your superstar steps up in moments like that and something like that happens, it's not only about what it does for the whole place, but what it does for the dugout."
The current MLB home run leader hit 34 blasts through his first 92 games this season. He is on track to hit 25 more if he plays in each of the Angels' final 67 contests and maintains his current long-ball rate.
The Angles and Yankees were scoreless through five innings. Yankees right fielder Oswaldo Cabrera plated the first two runs of the night with a double in the top of the sixth.
Angels catcher Matt Thaiss hit a 438-foot solo homer to center in the bottom of the same inning. Second baseman Gleyber Torres pushed the Yankees lead back to two runs with a sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh.
Yankees relief pitcher Michael King walked second baseman Eduardo Escobar in the second at-bat of the bottom of the inning. King then struck out shortstop Zach Neto, which brought Ohtani to the plate.
King threw a ball in the dirt for a ball to start the exchange. Ohtani fouled off the next two pitchers. King then threw in a 96.9-mph fastball.
Ohtani swatted that middle-and-outside pitch to center for his game-tying homer. The two-run shot traveled 107 mph off his bat, according to Statcast.
Neither team scored for the next two innings, prompting extra innings. Angels pitcher hitter Michael Stefanic then won the game with an RBI walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th.
Ohtani went 3 for 4 with two RBI , a walk, strikeout and run scored in the win. He is now hitting .306 with 75 RBIs, in addition to his 35 homers.
Torres was the only Yankees player with more than one hit. He went 2 for 4 with an RBI in the loss. Yankees starter Luis Severino allowed six hits and one run over six innings, but was not on record for a decision.
Angels starter Griffin Canning allowed six hits and two runs and issued 12 strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings. He also was not on record for a decision.
The Angels (47-48) will host the Yankees (50-45) at 9:38 p.m. EDT Tuesday at Angel Stadium.
