NEW YORK – Jared Walsh beat Aroldis Chapman in a ninth inning by seven runs for his second homer of a long night of a tied Grand Slam, and the Los Angeles Angels stunned the New York Yankees 11-8 in a rainy game that ended after 1 O’clock on Thursday.
Shohei Ohtani’s highly anticipated first pitching appearance at Yankee Stadium was a wild wreck that ended prematurely. He was charged with seven runs in the first inning, but the Angels halted with two weather delays that lasted more than two hours and broke out for seven of their own in the ninth inning.
Chapman, who hadn’t played in a week, entered an unsafe situation to defend an 8-4 lead. But he went three thugs to load the bases off with one, and Walsh launched an 84 mph slider in the Yankees’ bullpen in the right center for his second career slam and the first Chapman ever admitted.
The fireballing left-hander had not given a home run to a left-hander since August 2017.
Pinch hitter Luis Rengifo broke the tie with a two-run single from Lucas Luetge (2-1) with two outs, and Taylor Ward added an RBI single.
Raisel Iglesias landed three quick outs on his 15th save when seven Angels emergency workers helped save Ohtani in what was perhaps the most demoralizing loss for the Yankees in an extremely disappointing season to date.
After the Angels gathered, some of the few fans who stayed expressed their displeasure with manager Aaron Boone by saying, “Fire Boone! Fire Boone!”
Mike Mayers (2-3) won the win after handing a solo homer to Brett Gardner in eighth place.
It marked the first time the Yankees hit a tieing slam in the ninth inning or later since Toronto Blue Jays slugger George Bell was linked to Dave Righetti in June 1986.
Chapman hadn’t run three clubs in a game since July 2019.
“A terrible loss,” said Boone.
It was the fourth time the Yankees had scored and lost at least seven runs in the first inning. The previous occasion was against the Cleveland Indians in 1954.
The last time New York led fourth in ninth place and lost to the Angels in August 2000.
Chapman has made four left-handed homers in his career. The last was a starting shot from Yonder Alonso for the Seattle Mariners on August 25, 2017.
DJ LeMahieu scored an early double with three runs for the Yankees, who lost five out of six.
The game was delayed by a total of 2:13 during two interruptions, so the goal was postponed to 1:06 in the morning. The teams should compete against each other again 12 hours later if the weather permits.
“As bad as it gets now,” said Yankees bully Giancarlo Stanton. “As devastating as it is, it cannot linger.”
Ohtani got just two outs during his much-anticipated pitching debut against the Yankees and went broke with his Babe Ruth impersonation in the Bronx – at least that night.
The two-way phenomenon, which leads the majors with 28 home runs, has been hunted down after four first-inning walks and accused with the worst seven runs of its career.
Ohtani made his twelfth pitching start of the season on a 92-degree night that later cooled off and flopped long before the showers came.
Ohtani had a 2-0 lead on Phil Gosselin’s two-time homer in the top of first place but quickly gave it back. The 26-year-old right-handed man took his first three clubs and threw only 20 of 41 for strikes – although it wasn’t the shortest start of his career in the Major League. In his first pitching appearance in almost 23 months after Tommy John’s surgery, he gave up five runs at the Oakland Athletics on July 26, without getting an exit in 30 places.
Aaron Slegers, who had just been called by the minors, gave LeMahieu a three-run double who hit a grounder in first base with a half-hearted swing. That made it 7-2 and closed the book on Ohtani, whose ERA jumped from 2.58 to 3.60.
It was New York’s biggest first inning since May 25, 2015 against Kansas City.
Ohtani also beat leadoff and flew out against Domingo German to start the game. The slugging designated hitter / pitcher has had 11 homers in his previous 13 games.
He was the first pitcher to start a game after hitting two home runs for his team since Ruth did it for the Yankees on September 28, 1930. Ohtani beat three homers in the series’ first two games.
In the third inning, the taxed Angels were on their fourth of eight pitchers – and without a designated batsman. Two of them except Ohtani landed on his launch site.
Dylan Bundy, who vomited Monday night in the heat on the Yankee Stadium field and only lasted 1⅔ innings, was called in for his first appearance with Baltimore since 2016.
Because of rain, the game was interrupted in the lower third for 42 minutes. The game was paused again for 91 minutes in the middle of the fifth game, New York leading 7-4, reducing the season’s attendance to 30,714.
Walsh led the Angels with a homer against Luis Cessa in fifth.
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