ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Yankees intentionally walked Shohei Ohtani to load the bases but escape a jam in the fifth inning Monday night.
Two innings later, they pitched to the Angels superstar and got a reminder of why every contending team is dreaming about the chance to possibly land him at the trade deadline.
Ohtani crushed his 35th home run of the season, a two-run shot off Michael King that tied it in the seventh before the Angels dealt the Yankees the same, excruciating fate for the second straight game.
Pinch-hitter Michael Stefanic delivered the final blow in the bottom of the 10th, roping a walk-off single against Nick Ramirez to lift the Angels to a 4-3 win over the Yankees at Angel Stadium.
In the top of the 10th, the Yankees had their automatic runner on third base with one out but could not get him in as Harrison Bader and Anthony Volpe struck out.
The Yankees actually dared to pitch to Ohtani again to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning, but Ramirez got him to whiff at three straight pitches for the quick strikeout.
Ramirez, who gave up a game-tying home run in the 11th inning of Sunday’s loss to the Rockies, got the ninth inning on Monday on a night when the bullpen did not have some of its key relievers available because of recent workloads.
The Angels, who had lost 11 of their last 13 games, went on to put two runners on with two outs in the ninth before Ramirez struck out Matt Thaiss to send the game to extras.
The Yankees struck out 17 times — including 12 in 5 ²/₃ innings against starter Griffin Canning — as they continued to scuffle offensively and give their pitching staff little to no margin for error.
Ohtani’s 403-foot blast, which was punctuated with a strong bat flip, came with two outs in the seventh inning of a game the Yankees led 3-1.
King had hurt himself by walking No. 9 hitter Eduardo Escobar with one out before pitching coach Matt Blake paid a mound visit with Ohtani coming to the plate, though the Yankees ultimately decided to take their chances and pitch to him.
With a 1-2 count, King threw a 97 mph fastball on the outer third that Ohtani jumped on and deposited beyond the wall in left-center field.
Two innings earlier, the Yankees had chosen a different route in what was then a scoreless game. With two outs and runners on the corners, the Yankees intentionally walked Ohtani to load the bases.
The move worked out as Severino got Mickey Moniak, with a full count and the buzzing crowd of 41,180 on its feet, to fly out to end the threat.
The Yankees then took a 2-0 lead in the top of the sixth when Oswaldo Cabrera came up with the bases loaded and roped a ground-rule double to left-center field.
The only run that Severino allowed all night came in the bottom of the sixth, when he gave up a solo shot to Thaiss.
But the Yankees got that run back in the top of the seventh when Oswald Peraza — who turned in strong plate appearances all night and reached base five times — drew one of his four walks, stole second, took third on a wild pitch and then scored on Gleyber Torres’ sacrifice fly.
Severino was far from perfect across his six innings of work, often having to work around traffic while scattering six hits and three walks, but he made some real progress after the Yankees used the All-Star break to try to fix the right-hander.
Coming into the night, Severino had a 7.38 ERA. His last two starts before the All-Star break were especially rough, combining to give up 16 runs (14 earned) on 19 hits across 6 ²/₃ innings against the Cardinals and Orioles.
“Well sure there’s concern — we’re trying to address that,” manager Aaron Boone said of Severino before the game. “The one thing is we do feel like he’s healthy and the stuff’s there. If that’s the case, he’s got a pretty good track record of success. He’s done some good work here in between the last start and now, obviously having some downtime with the break. Hopefully the small adjustments that he’s making will unlock him.