ATLANTA >> A brilliant performance by Shohei Ohtani on the mound turned ugly quickly.

Meanwhile, it was ugly all night for the Angels’ hitters.

Ohtani had struck out 11 in six innings without allowing a run, but he gave up six runs in the seventh inning of the Angels’ 8-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Friday night.

Ohtani could not have been any better for six innings, but he was pitching in the pressure of a tie game because the Angels’ hitters — who have been in a collective slump for nearly two months — continually came up empty.

“It’s hard to pitch when you know your offense is struggling,” manager Phil Nevin said. “One big hit or one big inning for us can change that. But you know, when you’re pitching the way he does every night and understanding that one blooper, one little mistake can hurt you and cost you the game, that’s hard to pitch like that, which makes what he’s done the last two months more even more impressive.”

Ohtani has been nearly unhittable over his last seven starts, including the first six innings on Friday.

“He was awesome,” Nevin said. “That’s a heckuva a lineup over there. For six innings, they didn’t have much chance.”

When Ohtani took the mound in the seventh, he had retired 15 in a row and 18 of 19 in the game, most of them with strikeouts. He