The way the Angels were playing during their franchise-record 14-game losing streak, with breakdowns in every facet of the game and the pressure mounting with every defeat, it seemed like it would take something extraordinary, something unexpected, for them to end their 2 1/2-week freefall.
They got both in Thursday night’s 5-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox before a crowd of 28,595 in Angel Stadium, the first provided by their two-way phenom and reigning American League most valuable player, the second by a 5-foot-9, 170-pound shortstop who is barely hitting his weight.
Shohei Ohtani gave up one run and four hits and struck out six — one with a 101-mph fastball, his hardest pitch of the season — in seven innings and hit a two-run home run in the fifth to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead.
Shortstop Andrew Velazquez, mired in a one-for-34 slump that dropped his average to .175, then lined a three-run homer into the right-field seats in the sixth to give the Angels a 5-1 lead.
The Red Sox cut the lead to 5-2 on Alex Verdugo’s RBI single off Angels reliever Ryan Tepera in the eighth, but closer Raisel Iglesias struck out two of three batters in the ninth to seal the Angels’ first victory since a 5-3 win over Texas on May 24.
The Angels have still lost 18 of 22 games, falling from a first-place tie with Houston in the American League West on May 15 to nine games back, but at least the albatross of a 14-game skid is no longer hanging around their necks.
“We know we’re better than this — that’s the thing,” catcher Max Stassi said. “Going through this is gonna make it sweeter in the end. I do think we’re gonna overcome this, and I do think in the end we’ll become a winning ballclub.
“But it’s like life. You go through tough times. One week you’re on top of the world, the next week, nothing can go right. We just have to keep moving forward, keep working hard.”
The Angels had gone 18 consecutive innings without a run and were trailing 1-0 in the fifth when Juan Lagares dunked a soft one-out single to center field off Red Sox right-hander Nick Pivetta.
Pivetta, who blanked the Angels on four hits and struck out out eight through four innings, caught too much of the plate with a 1-and-1 fastball to Ohtani, who drove a two-run homer to center for a 2-1 Angels lead.
It was the first homer by the Angels since Luis Rengifo’s solo shot in the seventh inning in Yankee Stadium on May 31, a span of eight-plus games and 315 plate appearances.
Jo Adell, who doubled and singled in his first two at-bats, and Dillon Thomas both walked to open the bottom of the sixth. Boston manager Alex Cora pulled Pivetta in favor of right-hander Hirokazu Sawamura, whot got Jack Mayfield to ground into a fielder’s choice.
Sawamura struck out Tyler Wade with a nasty split-fingered fastball for the second out and tried to blow a 1-and-2 fastball by Velazquez, but the switch-hitter turned violently on the 95.5-mph pitch and drove his third homer of the season into the seats in right for a 5-1 lead.
The Red Sox had snapped a scoreless tie in the top of the fifth when Frenchy Cordero walked, Jackie Bradley Jr. singled, Cordero took third on a passed ball and scored on Bobby Dalbec’s sacrifice fly.
Boston threatened in the sixth when J.D. Martinez doubled to right with one out. Ohtani struck out Alex Verdugo with a nasty 82-mph curve for the second out but walked Christian Vazquez to put two on.
Cordero hit a slow roller to the right side. Velazquez, who was stationed in shallow right field, charged hard, scooped the ball and made a strong, off-balance throw to first base just ahead of Cordero to end the inning.
