ANAHEIM -- There is arguably no ballpark that provides more comfort to Gerrit Cole than Angel Stadium, having passed through the facility’s turnstiles countless times as a young fan growing up in Orange County. That quality has translated into a long stretch of on-field success here for the Yankees’ ace, continuing up until the sixth inning on Wednesday.

Cole’s breezy performance was disrupted, with third baseman Josh Donaldson committing a one-out throwing error and shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa booting a routine ground ball. That brought up Shohei Ohtani, and Cole grooved what he called “probably just the worst fastball of the night” for a three-run homer, proving to be the difference in the Yanks’ 3-2 loss to the Angels.

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“It’s not like I’m thrilled about [the errors], but I’m looking at it as an opportunity to pick the guys up,” Cole said. “You don’t want to be in that situation all the time, but it’s inevitable that you’ll be there, so it’s like, ‘Let’s pick somebody up.’ It would have been nice to get out of that jam. It’s just unfortunate.”

The loss concluded a 3-4 West Coast swing for the Yankees, who split a four-game series against the Athletics before dropping two of three to the Angels -- both clubs far out of postseason contention. They will now jet across the country to wrap their trip with three games against the Rays, holding a six-game lead in the American League East, an advantage that was once 15 1/2.

Wednesday’s defeat also concluded one of the Yanks’ worst calendar months in decades. New York’s 10-18 record was their poorest showing since September 1991, when Stump Merrill’s club limped to the finish line with a 9-19 mark.

“We’ve got a long flight back east, an off-day and then we start an important series with a division opponent,” manager Aaron Boone said. “We’ve got to play better than we’ve played. It’s as simple as that. We’ve got to start picking up some wins. Whether the calendar has an ‘8’ or a ‘9’ or a ‘10’ on it, we’ve got to get a little better.”

Cole held a two-run lead going into the sixth, provided when Gleyber Torres ripped an RBI double and Aaron Hicks lifted a sacrifice fly in the fifth off Halos starter Patrick Sandoval.

After a brief delay to open the inning, Cole retired Max Stassi on a flyout before David Fletcher reached on an infield single, with Donaldson’s one-hop throw from foul territory sailing wide of first baseman DJ LeMahieu. Mike Trout followed with a ground ball that Kiner-Falefa flubbed for his 12th error of the season.

“I just got behind it and missed it. No excuses,” Kiner-Falefa said. “The play needs to be made in a big spot of the game, and it cost us the game tonight. I’m not happy about it. Nothing I can do now, but I definitely feel bad for Gerrit. I’ve definitely made some mistakes playing behind him, but I know he trusts me when it comes down to it. Just got to keep going.”

The Yankees have steadfastly defended Kiner-Falefa during their second-half slide, with general manager Brian Cashman recently stating that he has seen “no lane” to call up 22-year-old shortstop Oswald Peraza, who is rated as the club’s No. 2 prospect by MLB Pipeline.

Boone said after Wednesday’s game that Kiner-Falefa has “been one of the best defenders in the league at shortstop.”

Entering Wednesday, Kiner-Falefa’s -2 outs above average was tied for 23rd among Major League shortstops. His .971 fielding percentage is 22nd of 39 players with 100 or more chances at shortstop. Kiner-Falefa’s 12 defensive runs saved entering Wednesday rated fourth-best among shortstops, according to The Fielding Bible.

“Infielders make an error every now and then,” Boone said. “It’s a play he should make, obviously. He didn’t make the play that time.”

Kiner-Falefa’s error and Ohtani’s 30th homer loomed large because, for the 12th time this season (and the sixth since July 28), the Yankees were held to three hits or fewer.

Sandoval turned aside the Yanks in the seventh, wrapping seven strong innings, and Jose Quijada pitched around a walk in the eighth before the offense showed life in the ninth against Jimmy Herget.

Aaron Judge walked and stole second, and Giancarlo Stanton also worked a free pass, but Herget recovered to strike out Donaldson and Torres before retiring pinch-hitter Oswaldo Cabrera on a ground ball.

“The unfortunate part of the last several weeks is that we’ve been losing these close games,” Boone said. “We’ve got to find a way to punch through. A big part of that is just getting a few guys going from a performance standpoint, from a health standpoint. If we can do that, it’s right there in front of us.”