Shohei Ohtani traded home runs with fellow American League MVP candidate Aaron Judge in a hotly anticipated battle Monday, sparking the Los Angeles Angels to a 4-3 win against the New York Yankees.
Reigning AL MVP Ohtani hit his 29th home run in the fifth, launching a go-ahead, two-run shot that put the Angels up 4-2 before Judge, the current MVP betting favorite, soloed in the eighth with his MLB-leading 50th homer.
Fans at Angel Stadium were treated to five homers on the night, with Luis Rengifo and Mike Ford also going long for the Halos and Anthony Rizzo hitting a solo for the Yankees.
The 30-year-old Judge has an unassailable lead in the home run race and is on pace to beat Roger Maris's AL record of 61 with the 1961 Yankees.
Homering for a second straight game, Ohtani went 2-for-4 after turning on the jets for an infield single in the eighth.
His home run, off a 1-2 splitter from New York starter Frankie Montas (4-11), soared 121 meters into the stands behind right center field.
"I wasn't waiting for a splitter, but I'd seen so many pitches by that stage, I was able to react well," Ohtani said.
"I've been able to see the ball pretty well, which has led to relatively good results."
It was Ohtani's fourth career homer off Montas, his most against any pitcher in the majors, according to MLB.com.
Jose Suarez (5-6) pitched six innings of three-hit, two-run ball for the win, while Jimmy Herget earned his fourth save after Mike Trout made a tough running catch on Oswaldo Cabrera's liner for the final out of the game.
At Rogers Centre in Toronto, Seiya Suzuki went 2-for-5 with a run scored for the Chicago Cubs, who lost 5-4 to the Blue Jays on Danny Jansen's 11th-inning walk-off single.
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