Shohei Ohtani had a monster game on Thursday night as the Los Angeles Dodgers blew out the Athletics 19-2 at Dodger Stadium. Ohtani hit home runs in back-to-back innings to move into a tie for the league lead during the victory. If there was a bright spot for the A's, it may be that they found someone who can effectively deal with the three-time MVP at the plate: backup catcher Jhonny Pereda.
Trailing by 14 heading into the 8th, Pereda took the mound to try and save the arms in the bullpen. Ohtani came to the plate with two runners on and no outs. Pereda threw four straight fastballs that were clocked between 62 and 68 MPH. After Ohtani took three pitches and fouled one off Pereda reached back and threw an 89 MPH four-seam fastball.
Everything that happened after that was amazing.
Athletics catcher (yes, catcher) Jhonny Pereda strikes out Shohei Ohtani, tosses the baseball to the dugout to make sure he keeps it (as he should) pic.twitter.com/mnenEfam6j
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) May 16, 2025
First Pereda flinched as he saw Ohtani swing the bat. Ohtani grimaced knowing he had chased one up and out of the zone and missed. The knowledge that he had been struck out by a position player probably didn't help. Pereda tried to stay cool, but couldn't hide his smile. Then he threw the ball over the dugout so that he could keep the ball forever.
Pereda, 29, made his MLB debut last season with the Miami Marlins. He's 6-for-32 with a double and RBI this season with the Athletics. Whatever else he does as a big leaguer, he'll always be able to say he struck out one of the best hitters in the history of the game. And he's got the souvenir to prove it.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Athletics’ Backup Catcher Had Priceless Reaction to Striking Out Shohei Ohtani.
