Masahiro Tanaka struck out two-way sensation Shohei Ohtani twice and earned his sixth win of the season as the New York Yankees beat the Los Angeles Angels 3-1 on Sunday.

Tanaka (6-2) fanned eight, scattering three hits over six solid innings at Yankee Stadium. He gave up a run in the sixth, surrendering a homer to Andrelton Simmons.

In their first meeting since playing in Japan in 2013, the 29-year-old Tanaka struck out his countryman Ohtani swinging twice, while issuing a walk. Ohtani remains hitless against Tanaka after going 0-for-11 when he played with the Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan.

"I don't really remember much about 2013, but it's not easy to hold him off," said Tanaka. "He had a lot of hits this season, so I was anxious."

"Overall, I feel great to win such a tight game."

In the first with two outs and a runner on base, Ohtani, who batted cleanup as Angels' designated hitter, struck out on an 85.6-mph splitter. He walked on five pitches in the fourth, before striking out again in his final at-bat against Tanaka in the sixth.

"I went into the plate just focused on playing like I always do," Ohtani said. "I learned a lot from today, but I still wanted our team to win.

"All of his (Tanaka's) pitches are great, but above all, he has great control."

Ohtani finished the day 0-for-2 with two walks after reliever Aroldis Chapman walked him in the ninth. The 23-year-old Ohtani has a .291 batting average so far this season.

The MLB rookie, who is 4-1 as a pitcher, was scheduled to start on Sunday, but got pushed back due to what Angels' manager Mike Scioscia called "workload management."

Tanaka said, "The pitcher and the batter face each other directly, so I think it worked out better for our fans excited about today's game."

When Tanaka held the then 18-year-old Nippon Ham rookie Ohtani hitless in 2013, he went undefeated with 24 wins and a 1.23 ERA with the Rakuten Eagles. He moved to the majors the following season.

Angels' starter Garrett Richards (4-4) gave up three runs while pitching 2-1/3 innings. He allowed a single to Aaron Judge with no outs in the third and allowed the Yankees their opening run after walking three batters in a row.

Jose Alvarez replaced Richards but hit the first batter he faced and Miguel Andujar grounded into a fielder's choice that scored the home team their third run of the day.