Shohei Ohtani dominated the Boston Red Sox on Thursday afternoon as the Los Angeles Angels crushed the home team 8-0 at Fenway Park.
In his first time ever pitching at Fenway Park, Ohtani threw seven scoreless innings, struck out 11 hitters, and walked nobody. He also chipped in on offense with a couple singles, a run, and an RBI. Mind you, those singles probably would've been extra-base hits in other ballparks. He hit one of them so hard off the Green Monster that it knocked a number off the scoreboard.
"Shohei Ohtani is having a day." - @B/R Walk-Off
He led in almost every in-depth statistical category. He threw the fastest pitch in the game at 100.3 MPH. He hit the furthest ball at 389 feet. He generated the most swings-and-misses at 26. And he recorded the highest exit velocity for hitters at 109.2 MPH. That's what you call dominant.
Shohei Ohtani's fandom buzzed on Twitter after his performance.
Baseball analyst sounds off on Twitter after Shohei Ohtani dominates in Boston
After Ohtani recorded his eleventh strikeout, Fenway Park was silent and Twitter was abuzz. Videos of Trevor Story whiffing on a 98-MPH fastball began circulating with various captions. Ohtani was more excited than anybody about it. He spun around the mound and screamed with excitement.
"He got him again!" shouted the Angels broadcast commentator.
One baseball analyst, Jared Carrabis, reacted to the strikeout with equal vigor.
"That’s the sound of Ohtani shoving it up the Red Sox a** all day." - @Jared Carrabis
He's not wrong. The ball striking the catcher's mitt as Story whiffs, Ohtani shouting for joy, and the silent Boston fans epitomized the defeat for the Red Sox.
Ben Verlander, brother of Houston Astros pitcher Justin Verlander, also took to Twitter to talk about Ohtani. He posted a video depicting the impact of one of Ohtani's singles off the Green Monster. The ball struck right above Ohtani's number seventeen on the old-style manual scoreboard. The impact was so great that it knocked the number down.
"Shohei Ohtani out there pitching 7 scoreless innings and knocking numbers out of the Green Monster" - @Ben Verlander
Ohtani can really do it all. He shut down the Red Sox from the mound and then added to his lead with an RBI. Here's another video angle of the hit. Listen to the sound of the ball hitting the Green Monster.
"Just Ohtani knocking his own number off the scoreboard" - @SportsCenter
You can hear the number come crashing down behind the scoreboard. That's the sound of metal crashing on metal. It's analogous to the Red Sox's performance this afternoon.