You know by now to be paying attention whenever Shohei Ohtani steps to the plate. He’s capable of doing something you’ve never seen before at any given moment.
But Monday against the Mets, the opposing battery delivered a jaw-dropping moment with Ohtani up to bat in the sixth inning of the Dodgers’ 4-0 win.
Craig Kimbrel toed the rubber to deliver a 2-2 pitch to Ohtani. He came set and made his stretch. The issue? Catcher Francisco Alvarez was running toward the mound with his hands held high.
Alvarez noticed the pitch clock had dwindled to just one second before Kimbrel was ready to pitch. He called time, attempting to save his pitcher from an automatic ball. But Kimbrel didn’t realize what was happening and started his motion, with his right arm fully separating from his glove.
All Alvarez -- already well in front of home plate -- could do was squat back down and prepare to receive a pitch in a treacherous situation. Ohtani caught on, quickly backing away from the plate and yelling as he did so.
Thankfully, Kimbrel noticed as he started toward the plate and was able to stop himself.
The wild scene elicited quite a reaction from Dodgers play-by-play man Joe Davis as it unfolded.
“Woah, woah woah! Oh my gosh!” Davis exclaimed. “I have never seen that.”
“Alvarez saw his life flash before his eyes,” Davis continued. “It looked like the 7-and-under game I watched yesterday: 40 feet away!”
Alvarez made his way to the mound for the brief timeout and put his arm around Kimbrel, who induced a flyout later in the at-bat. The always-animated Ohtani took a quick walk next to the batter’s box, appeared to say something toward his dugout and took a deep breath before stepping back in.
Clearly, Ohtani -- who was also hit by a David Peterson pitch to lead off the game -- had some fun with the moment now that everyone is OK. He posted three photos to his Instagram story overnight. One displayed the pitch that hit his shoulder, and two showed the Alvarez-Kimbrel cross up, with Ohtani yelling and Alvarez’s eyes as wide as a deer in headlights.