Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
The Athletics didn’t have much to celebrate after getting spanked by the Dodgers in a 19-2 massacre on Thursday night. However, backup catcher Jhonny Pereda may have recorded the highlight of his career after taking full advantage of an opportunity to pitch against Shohei Ohtani.
The Athletics headed into Thursday night’s showdown against the Dodgers a game over .500, and they knew they were going to be facing an uphill battle against a home team at the top of the NL West with a 28-15 record inside a packed house of 51,272 fans who were lured to the stadium with a bobblehead night commemorating Shohei Ohtani’s 50-50 season.
Those spectators did not head home disappointed, as Los Angeles pulled out to a 3-1 in lead the bottom of the first inning and never looked back thanks to the offensive explosion that led to them earning the 19-2 victory in a game where Ohtani hit two home runs—the third time he’s gone deep on his own bobblehead night since joining the Dodgers.
The contest was firmly over by the time the fourth inning rolled around, and the Athletics eventually waved the white flag in the bottom of the eighth by tapping Jhonny Pereda, their backup catcher, to head out to the mound instead of putting an unnecessary strain on the bullpen.
Pereda ultimately faced off against eight batters while surrendering four hits, a walk, and three earned runs, but there was a silver lining thanks to what transpired when Shohei Ohtani stepped up to the plate with no outs and runners on second and third.
It seemed safe to assume the superstar would end up padding a statline that already included six RBI, but Pereda only needed five pitches to send him to the dugout after capping off the at-bat with the 89 MPH fastball Ohtani whiffed on.
Position player Jhonny Pereda broke out the heat to strikeout Ohtani … and kept the ball 😂 pic.twitter.com/A8TXdjizI0
— MLB (@MLB) May 16, 2025
Pereda couldn’t help but smile after getting the better of the three-time MVP, and he also tossed the ball he used to get the strikeout toward the Athletics dugout to make sure he had something to remember it by.
You love to see it.