Miami Marlins manager Skip Schumaker wasn't going to be the one to deny Shohei Ohtani his historic 50/50 feat on Thursday. Ohtani, who smacked his 49th home run of the season in the sixth inning, was brought to the plate in the seventh inning with two men out.
Generally, managers would ideally walk the best hitter of the team in situations like this. But Schumaker was facing the predicament in a blowout game and didn't want to get in between. Instead, he let Ohtani take pitches from Mike Baumann and record his 50th home run of the season to become the first hitter in MLB history to reach 50/50.
His reaction was caught live on broadcast, earning plaudits on the internet, as he could be seen saying:
"F*** that. Too much respect for this guy for that s*** to happen," Schumaker allegedly said.
Here's the video:
Shohei Ohtani capped off his historic night with a 6-6, 10-RBI performance, only the sixth time such numbers were witnessed in the majors. He hit three home runs and stole three bases to get to the 51/51 club (51 home runs and 51 stolen bases). Of course, the Dodgers won 20-4 on the night.
Skip Schumaker talks about not intentionally walking Shohei Ohtani
Despite a blowout game on hands, Marlins skipper arrived at the press conference knowing he made the right call to not walk Shohei Ohtani. He defended himself postgame, saying doing such thing would be "a bad move - baseball-wise, karma-wise, baseball-gods-wise."
"You go after him and see if you can get him out," Schumaker said. "I think out of respect for the game, we were going to go after him. He hit the home run. That's just part of the deal. He's hit 50 of them. He's the most talented player I've ever seen.
"He is doing things I've never seen done in the game before, and if he has another couple more of these peak years, he might be the best ever to play the game."
Had it been a close situation, Skip Schumaker could have walked Shohei Ohtani, but there wasn't enough, and he knew he was only going to delay the inevitable. After all, the 15,548 fans at LoanDepot Park deserved a historic feat, and they eventually got one.