Two-way star Shohei Ohtani had a rough couple of innings in critical spots late in the game in a 7-3 walk-off loss to the A’s in 10 innings on Opening Day on Friday at the Oakland Coliseum. It was the Angels' seventh straight loss in a regular-season opener.

After Jason Castro tied the game in the ninth with a solo shot off Oakland closer Liam Hendriks, the A’s elected to walk superstar Mike Trout with runners at first and second with two outs to bring Ohtani to the plate. But Ohtani struck out on three pitches, and the game remained tied. Angels manager Joe Maddon wasn’t surprised by Oakland’s decision to walk Trout and thought Ohtani just missed the first pitch of the at-bat, which was a 95-mph fastball over the plate.

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“Shohei had one really good swing and then he took the strike,” said Maddon via Zoom. “He just didn't get the hit at that time, but he'll get plenty more opportunities to come through, and he will. The last pitch was a really good pitch. The pitch he fouled back was the one and he just missed it, and that happens sometimes."

After the A’s were held scoreless in the bottom of the ninth against Hansel Robles, Ohtani became the first player in Major League history to begin extra innings as the automatic runner at second base to open the inning.

But Ohtani made a baserunning mistake on a hard grounder to first from pinch-hitter Jared Walsh, as first baseman Matt Olson saw that Ohtani didn't have a great secondary lead and was late breaking to third. He was able to throw to third baseman Matt Chapman to start a rundown to get Ohtani, while Walsh was unable to reach second. Tommy La Stella singled and Castro walked to load the bases, but the Angels’ threat was over with Andrelton Simmons grounding out to second to end the inning. It was the third time the Angels left the bases loaded in the game.

“We talked about it,” Maddon said. “He throws well, too. Walsh hit the ball that hard and had a great at-bat and hit it right at him. I've instructed first basemen with good arms to do the same thing in the past. So that was more of a good play by Olson than a bad play by Ohtani.”

Robles remained in the game in the bottom of the 10th but exited after hitting a batter, throwing a wild pitch and walking a batter to load the bases. It was indicative of the control problems Angels relievers had, as they issued seven walks. Lefty Hoby Milner came in with a five-man infield behind him and promptly gave up a game-winning grand slam to Olson on the first pitch of his Angels career.

"Strategy wise, we got to the five-man infield,” Maddon said. “A ball was hit over our heads, and there's nothing we can do about that. Everything we were working on, the guys were ready for it tonight, and I appreciate that."

Despite going 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and leaving 12 men on base, the Angels had a 2-1 lead going into the bottom of the eighth. Unfortunately, Ty Buttrey couldn't hold the lead, giving up an RBI double to Ramón Laureano and an RBI triple to Chapman. It spoiled a strong outing from Angels lefty Andrew Heaney, who gave up one run on two hits over 4 2/3 innings with six strikeouts in his first career Opening Day start.

“We’re basically playing a third of a season, so that’s like losing a three-game series,” Heaney said. “That’s what it feels like. I think you could see it just from the tone. I was in the clubhouse for those late innings. Everybody that was in there, it felt like the end of a season. I felt like everybody was treating it like any game late in the year. I think guys understand how crucial each game is gonna be.”