Shohei Ohtani homered for the third straight game to bring his season home run total to 14, but the Los Angeles Angels were unable to keep their winning streak alive with a 6-5 loss to the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday.
The Angels, who won their last two games, were down 5-0 in the bottom of the first inning at Angel Stadium when Ohtani hit a one-out solo homer -- a 440-foot shot to center field -- off Cleveland starter Zach Plesac (4-3) to extend his Major League home run lead.
In the fourth, Ohtani reached on a single and came around to score on a Justin Upton three-run homer off Plesac that pulled the Angels to within one run, and Jose Iglesias tied the game at 5-all in the seventh with a leadoff homer, also off Plesac.
But Angels reliever Alex Claudio (0-1), in a lefty-lefty match, surrendered the eventual game-winning homer to Josh Naylor in the eighth.
Ohtani has homered in three straight games for the third time in his career, doing it twice in his rookie season in 2018, in April and September. He finished the night 2-for-3 with an intentional walk to raise his batting average to .271.
At Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Yoshitomo Tsutsugo played in his first game since being traded by the Tampa Bay Rays to the Los Angeles Dodgers last weekend. He went 0-for-2 with two walks in the team's 9-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
At the Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Shogo Akiyama pinch hit in the fifth and struck out swinging in his only at-bat as the Cincinnati Reds squandered an early one-run lead and lost to the San Francisco Giants 4-2.
Related coverage:
Baseball: Angels' Shohei Ohtani hits MLB-leading 13th homer of season
Baseball: Ohtani 9th-inning homer propels Angels past Red Sox
Baseball: Shohei Ohtani ties AL home run lead in Angels' loss to Red Sox
