Japanese rookie Shohei Ohtani closed in on a career-high single-season home run tally when he hit his 21st of 2018 in the Los Angeles Angels' 5-4, 11-inning victory over the Texas Rangers on Monday.

Ohtani has only produced one comparable season at the plate in his professional career, hitting 22 homers in 104 games for the Nippon Ham Fighters in 2016.

In his first at-bat at Angel Stadium on Monday, Ohtani sent the first pitch he faced from Rangers starter Adrian Sampson over the right-field fence to open the Angels' scoring.

"It was good I was able go strongly from first pitch. It was good to hit a home run as a result, too," Ohtani said.

(Jose Briceno, 10, celebrates with teammates after hitting a walk-off solo home run)

The Angels took a 4-3 lead through the eighth, but the Rangers fought back, Elvis Andrus hitting a two-out, pinch-hit RBI single in the ninth to force extra innings.

Ohtani had a chance to end the affair when he stepped up in the 10th with the game tied 4-4, but after taking Jose LeClerc to a full count, he flied out to center. The homer -- his sixth of the month -- was his only hit of the game in a 1-for-5 effort.

Instead, it was teammate Jose Briceno who hit the game-ending walk-off homer from Matt Moore (3-8) in the bottom of the 11th, snapping a five-game losing skid for the Angels.

"There were good moments today, but also a lot of bad spots," Ohtani said. "It's really big that we won as a team, and I think that will carry over to next season."

Taylor Cole (3-2), the last of the five Angels pitchers to take the mound, worked a perfect 11th, inducing a groundout and two strikeouts for the win.

(Ohtani's 21st home run of the season)

At Chase Field, Yoshihisa Hirano set a record with 74 games pitched in relief, the most by any Japanese major leaguer in a single season, but the Arizona Diamondbacks dropped their fourth straight with a 7-4 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

"I knew I had just one more game (to set the record), but I am always under pressure not knowing when I will give up runs like I did today," said Hirano. "This is the result of working hard every day."

Hirano surpassed the 73 appearances made by Akinori Otsuka in 2004 (San Diego Padres) and Koji Uehara in 2013 (Boston Red Sox). He gave up three runs on two hits while walking two, striking out two and throwing two wild pitches in 2/3 of an inning.

In the same game, the Dodgers' Kenta Maeda got two outs in the eighth.