Anahime – Shuhei Ohtani knew he was gone as soon as he hit the bat.

And after connecting on a 1-2 fastball from Yankees assistant Michael King Monday night, the two-way star took some time to watch him cruise over the left field fence before raising his right hand to launch the biggest heart of the bat. his career in the league. Ohtani was clearly inflated with his 35th MLB home run, which tied the game in the seventh inning. It was Ohtani’s 14th-best MLB HR in the seventh inning or later.

In OptaSTATS, Ohtani has hit as many home runs in the seventh inning or later over the past 28 games (12) as any other MLB player has hit the total over that time (since June 12). This is the most home runs in the seventh inning or later over 28 games in MLB history.

“It was the most emotional I’ve ever seen from him on the court,” said Angels manager Phil Nevin. “It was fantastic. Just an incredible deal there. When your superstar steps up in moments like that and something like that happens, it’s not just what it does for the whole place but what it does for the dugout.”

“It was just a great moment for our club. To come out on top, it’s not lost.”

It was the third straight homer for Otani, who surpassed the 34-run total of last season. It was his 35th blast during the Angels’ first 95 games of the season, which is exactly in line with what Yankees player Aaron Judge did last season. Judge went deep 36 times over New York’s first 95 games on his way to setting the AL record with 62 homers and finishing ahead of Ohtani in balloting for AL MVP.

But Judge has been limited to 49 games this season after spraining his right big toe in early June, and Otani is a favorite to win the AL MVP award for the second time in three seasons. And, of course, Ohtani is slated to be a free agent after the season — and whether the Angels eventually trade him at the August 1 trade deadline is the talk of baseball.

The Angels were still seen as unlikely to trade Otani, and Niven indicated that it was Ohtani’s intense desire to win that sparked his emotions after he changed his playing style to Homer.

“What I can tell you about him is that he cares,” Nevin said. “Everything he does is calculated to be the best player in the world for the purpose of winning. It’s been frustrating for him in the last two weeks, it’s been frustrating for everyone. But he wants to win and he wants to win here.”

The second-inning homer was the third hit of the game for Otani, who doubled in the third inning and fell just one short of the cycle for the seventh time this season. He has a streak of .306/.391/.677 with 35 homers, 16 doubles, six triples, 11 stolen bases and 75 RBI in 93 games.

The King could only lift his hat to Otani when asked about the explosion and flipping the bat after the match.

“I hope it doesn’t come to my detriment, but he’s an incredible hitter,” King said. “We knew, as a team, we didn’t want him to be the one to beat us. Unfortunately, I was greedy on the two-stroke account and tried to put on a better showing than I needed to. I couldn’t let him be the one to beat us, and I did today. And if I was You tie the game late, you can do whatever you want.”

Otani had a chance to play hero again in the ninth inning but led off the inning by hitting on three pitches against lefty reliever Nick Ramirez. Otani also grabbed his back after an awkward swing at the slider for strike three. But Niven said Otani did not hurt himself and was fine after the match.

“He’s rocking hard,” Nevin said. “He always has little cramps. He’s just fine.”

Ohtani is still tentatively slated to make his next start on the mound on Friday against the Pirates, but has been dealing with a nail/blister problem his past three starts. Otani’s right middle finger was sensitive during those games, especially against the Padres on July 4, but it clearly didn’t affect him at the plate.

“So far, Shuhei is good,” Nevin said. “The finger wasn’t as bad as it was in San Diego. The nail is causing a little problem in his skin. There was a little crack. But he’s better, and we got his sleeve and the last time he threw, he said it was better.”