ANAHEIM -- Red Sox manager Alex Cora never had a chance to watch Babe Ruth play live, but he feels like he got a pretty good taste of what it must have been like on Thursday night at Angel Stadium.

Shohei Ohtani on the mound? Seven innings, four hits, one run, two walks, six strikeouts and 100 pitches.

Ohtani at the bat? A two-run homer off Nick Pivetta that put the Angels in front for good in the bottom of the fifth inning.

For good measure, Ohtani added a laser-beam single, putting his signature all over a 5-2 victory that snapped a 14-game losing streak for the Angels -- and ended Boston's seven-game winning streak.

“I think he was great [pitching] in Boston,” said Cora. “Today, he was good. Obviously, to see him hit a home run while he’s going out there for seven innings, that’s impressive, and that’s why I keep saying he’s the best athlete in the world.”

At Fenway Park on May 5, Ohtani overpowered the Red Sox with no walks and 11 strikeouts while throwing 99 pitches over six. He also had a big hit that day, denting the Green Monster with an RBI single.

Unless the Red Sox and Angels somehow meet up in the postseason come October, this will be Boston’s last look at Ohtani in 2022.

Needless to say, the dynamic slugger and pitcher left a lasting impression on Cora.

“To compete at this level on the mound and at the plate the way he does, it’s eye-opening. It’s unreal,” Cora said.

To beat Ohtani’s two-way heroics on Thursday, the Red Sox would have needed an “unreal” performance from Pivetta.

Boston’s righty, who came into this one with a 5-0 record and 1.32 ERA in his previous six starts, looked poised to go toe-to-toe with Ohtani early on.

The Red Sox actually led 1-0 when Pivetta fired that 1-1 fastball that caught too much plate with one out in the fifth, before Ohtani pummeled it for his two-run homer.

However, Pivetta was far more perturbed by his two walks to open the sixth than the homer he gave up to Othani.

Those two walks led to the Angels' No. 9 Angels hitter, Andrew Velazquez, unloading for a three-run homer off righty reliever Hirokazu Sawamura.

Suddenly, the shine had worn off a season-high 11-strikeout performance for Pivetta over five-plus innings.

“I think it came down to the two walks to lead off the sixth inning, that kind of screwed everything up,” said Pivetta. “Uncompetitive. Not good.”

In truth, despite Thursday’s result, things are pretty good for the Red Sox these days. A team that was 11-20 on May 11 is on a 19-8 stretch that has brought its record to 30-28. The turnaround currently has Boston in possession of the third American League Wild Card spot.

Cora’s team reeled off wins in the first six games of this 10-game swing on the West Coast, and will try to finish strong with three in Seattle this weekend. The recent resurgence allowed Cora to rest his starting double-play combination of Trevor Story and Xander Bogaerts for Thursday’s finale.

Rafael Devers got a breather on Tuesday. J.D. Martinez got a game off on the first leg of the trip in Oakland.

“It’s important,” said Cora. “I think we’re in a much different situation than 15 days ago. You feel with the traveling schedule. Seattle is not right down the street.”

Despite falling in the finale with a relatively quiet offensive performance, compared to where things were a month ago Boston had few regrets en route in Seattle.

“Very, very positive,” said Pivetta. “I like the way we’re playing right now. We’re doing a tremendous job. Just move on to Seattle, flush this and get back at it.”