Weird & Wild: The Pereda-Ohtani strikeout, Pirates' 5-run drought and a bonkers walk-off

New York Times

23-05-2025

Baseball. It's done it again. Want to hear what you missed since the last edition of this column?
Well, there was the Weirdest and Wildest walk-off ever, complete with a guy running off the bench and slamming into the dude about to score the winning run. … There was another walk-off in a game on Monday by a hitter who never set foot in the batter's box that day. … And there was a team that fell behind, 7-0, 14-0, and 21-0 in the same game and it was not wearing shoulder pads.
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But that is not where this week's Weird and Wild column begins because we finally found a game where …
In football, the long snapper never comes off the bench and sacks Patrick Mahomes. In the NBA, the backup point guard never gets asked to guard Nikola Jokić and holds him scoreless. But this isn't a column about any of those sports. So …
Are you familiar with baseball?
My favorite thing about baseball is that it makes no sense. My favorite thing about baseball is that you expect one thing to happen and then, of course, the exact opposite thing happens. My favorite thing about baseball is stuff like this:
When the great Shohei Ohtani arrives in the batter's box to hit against the backup catcher (the Athletics' effervescent Jhonny Pereda) … in a May 15 game that would wind up Dodgers 19, A's 2 … on Shohei Ohtani Bobbhelead Night … and then, naturally, this happens.
Position player Jhonny Pereda broke out the heat to strikeout Ohtani … and kept the ball
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— MLB (Bot) (@mlbbot.bsky.social) May 16, 2025 at 12:46 AM
What. A. Moment.
The MVP just struck out … against the backup catcher? Seriously? In real life?
So I found myself saying to the always-entertaining A's TV analyst, Dallas Braden: 'What do you think? Jhonny Pereda — most unhittable pitcher in baseball?'
'I don't know,' he replied, 'how you could come up with any other assessment.'
Right. But there were so many Weird and Wild levels to this thing. So let's dig in!
HOW WEIRD AND WILD WAS IT? I shouldn't have to prove to you that this sensational strikeout ranked way, way, way up there on the list of Most Unpredictable Baseball Moments Ever. But I'm going to do that anyway.
A position player whiffed a three-time MVP? Here's STATS Perform's Greg Harvey with all the times that's happened in history:
June 24, 1942 — Earl Naylor* K's Jimmie Foxx
May 22, 1964 — Willie Smith* K's Mickey Mantle
May 15, 2025 — Jhonny Pereda K's Shohei Ohtani
*Asterisk Alert — I respectfully disagree with Greg's list! Naylor pitched 20 times that season! Smith went to the mound 15 times that season — and 29 times in his career! So I don't count those guys as 'true' position players, which means … Pereda (three previous appearances, two this year) stands alone, at least in the Weird and Wild annals.
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A position player whiffed the reigning MVP? OK, let's try this another way. How rare is it for a 'true' position player to strike out the reigning MVP? STATS provided us with this epic list, from the last 52 seasons of complete, publicly available play-by-play data.
May 15, 2025 — Jhonny Pereda K's Shohei Ohtani
Sept. 5, 2022 — Kody Clemens K's Shohei Ohtani
April 28, 2021 — Anthony Rizzo K's Freddie Freeman
Aug. 6, 2018 — Matt Davidson K's Giancarlo Stanton
Do you remember those Clemens and Rizzo punchouts as vividly as we do? Tells you all you need to know, right?
Jhonny P struck out Shohei before, um, who? If Pereda was impressed with this Kool K before, it's about to get even more impressive. Did you know he struck out Ohtani in his career before … Corbin Burnes (9 plate appearances) … or Brady Singer (9) … or Bryan Woo (8) … or Freddy Peralta (6) … or Jack Flaherty (5) … just to name a few? True!
OK, so explain that! How could all those accomplished professional pitchers not have struck out Ohtani in a combined 37 plate appearances (and oh by the way, Shohei was hitting .469 against them) … but then the backup catcher for the A's stomped in and did that?
'They just care entirely too much. That's their problem,' Braden said.
HE PUNCHED OUT THE BOBBLEHEAD KING? There's nothing more precarious to the ERA of any pitcher than Shohei on his bobblehead night. The Dodgers have four of them scheduled this season — and that might not be enough.
He homered once on his first bobblehead night (an April 2 walk-off). Then, in this one, he'd already put up two more homers and six RBIs … until he had to face the backup catcher … who had just allowed three straight hits!
I don't know what you thought was likely to happen in that at-bat … but I'd have bet on 'Home run off the HOLLYWOOD sign' if that was an option at DraftKings. So that's one more reason this strikeout felt like the least likely outcome to any at-bat I've ever witnessed.
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DALLAS BRADEN: 'The bobbleheads had already been handed out. He's already hit two homers. He's given everybody what they wanted to see. … (So) I watched everybody in that ballpark. When Shohei stepped out on deck, the folks that were leaving and walking up the aisles, they stopped — (and said): I am going nowhere….
'We stood up in the booth because I'm thinking to myself: 'This is going to be a three-homer night on his bobblehead night! I don't know that Jhonny Pereda is going to lose sleep tonight if Shohei ends up hitting this ball into San Bernardino' … but then THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN, which is, I think, the most shocking thing about it.'
SHOULD HE HAVE HIRED A BODYGUARD? Think about it. If you got dragged out of your comfort zone to pitch to the great Ohtani, you'd be terrified, right? So my favorite, most humanizing part of this whole at-bat was that, after each of the first four offerings, Pereda delivered his pitch … and then backpedaled away as fast as he could.
I've never seen a man throw a pitch … and then scoot away like a guy running away from a bear … but if was ever going to happen, this was definitely the time!
THE ATHLETIC: Were those pitching mechanics or survival mechanics?
BRADEN: 'That is self-preservation at its finest. He's taking every bit of baseball experience and applying it in the most pivotal and important moment — not only for him in that game but maybe in his life — because he's trying to survive that at-bat! Which is why he pulled the old Napoleon burn and retreat: Here's a pitch. I'm getting out of here.'
PEREDA (TO REPORTERS AFTER THE GAME): 'I was scared if he hit the ball to the middle, it was going to kill me.'
WHERE'D THAT LAST PITCH COME FROM? The other beautiful part of this at-bat was that Pereda built up to his big moment, in every possible way.
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First pitch: 62.9 mph (called strike). … Second pitch: 68.4 mph (ball one). … Third pitch: 64.3 mph (fouled off). … Fourth pitch: 66.4 mph (another foul). … And then …
A four-seam fastball … at 89.4 miles per hour … the hardest pitch, to that point, that Pereda had thrown all night — and 23 mph harder than any pitch that Ohtani had seen before it?
BRADEN: 'I mean, you want to talk about changing speeds. This guy's got 46 different gears, apparently, that he's down-shifting and up-shifting through, really, at will. … And then he's like, I'm just gonna elevate a fastball by the best hitter on the planet. No big deal.'
But also …
HE THREW PITCHES IN THE 40s AND THE 90s? Our man Jhonny Pereda might be the all-time speed-change king. He threw a pitch at 42.1 mph in this game (to Hyeseong Kim). He also threw a pitch at 90.2 mph (to Max Muncy). What?
So how many men — real pitchers or mystery-pitchers like Pereda — have ever had a game in which they threw pitches clocked in the 40s and the 90s? I asked the Wizard, Statcast's Jason Bernard, that question.
It's tricky, because sometimes pitchers trip while not really 'throwing' a pitch. And position-player 'velocity' readings are always to be taken with a grain of smelling salts. But the Wizard found just three other games in the last 10 seasons in which a position player launched a pitch over 90 mph but also submerged at least one other under 45 mph:
Christian Bethancourt (9/10/22) — from 43.5 to 93.7 mph
Christian Bethancourt (8/28/22) — from 40.8 to 90.2 mph
Francisco Mejía (7/17/21) — from 43.5-92.0 mph
*Asterisk alert No. 2* – Bethancourt was a one-time two-way player but had 'reformed' by 2022, so we're letting this slide. Still, he was Jhonny Pereda.
HE SAVED THE BASEBALL? Of course he saved the baseball! What. A. Moment.
BRADEN: 'I told Jhonny, 'Buddy, to heck with the baseball. If I could get that video on loop, I would have that embedded on my forehead. And then everybody that I met for the first time would see me punching out Shohei.''
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TA: 'I like the concept. A little flat screen on the forehead? Brilliant.'
BRADEN: 'Yeah, no intro needed. You just walk up, hit 'PLAY,' don't say a word, and people, after that, are like: 'Oh, I know you.''
So there you go. That. Happened. The great Ohtani goes 3-for-5, with two bombs and six RBIs, against the real pitchers … and then is humbled by That Other Dude. Why do we love baseball? That's why.
BRADEN: 'I think it's things like that, where you're looking at a player like Jhonny Pereda against a player like Shohei Ohtani, and you feel like you've got a great idea of how this is going to unfold. But then you find out that doesn't matter. And you know why? Because the game doesn't care.'
I've been writing this column for a long time now. I got through almost my whole career without ever once taking a deep dive into the wild (and also weird) adventures of those Albuquerque Isotopes, the entertaining Triple-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies.
And now I just can't stop.
First, it was the first three-run walk in Weird and Wild history. And now there's this. Whatever it is.
I could try to explain it. But just take a minute and watch it. Why would you do that? Because I guarantee you it's the most whacked-out, walk-off hit you will ever see in your life.
It was like the teams said 'How do we get featured on 'Weird and Wild' by @jaysonst … and I think they did it. https://t.co/rey6fQ3cIZ
— MLB Scoring Changes (@ScoringChanges) May 22, 2025
What the heck was it? Just your average game-winning, lead-flipping, bases-loaded, two-run double – which also included …
• The runners on first and third base scoring but not the guy on second.
• The most bonkers obstruction call in the history of obstruction calls.
• The winning run scoring while nobody was looking because the center fielder had no idea any of this was happening.
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All right, so that didn't clear any of this up. I'll keep going.
Why didn't the runner on second score? Because of obstruction!
What was so bonkers about the obstruction call? Only this: Ildemaro Vargas, who had been hanging out in the Reno dugout, saw the baseball land in the gap — and said to himself: Good time to start celebrating! So he sprinted out of the dugout and slammed into the runner on second (Blaze Alexander) between third and home … meaning that Alexander wasn't the winning run. He was out!
How'd the winning run score while nobody was looking? Because you know who else wasn't paying much attention? Isotopes center fielder Sam Hilliard. He just assumed the game was over. So he turned and fired the baseball into the stands. Which gave a whole new meaning to the term, 'fan-friendly,' because that ball wasn't dead, despite all the nutty goings on back on the basepaths. So the umpires huddled, awarded the final runner (Andy Weber) two more bases because of that thrown ball into the stands. And …
This game was over.
Baseball! It's way better than fiction. Even science fiction.
• The only run in a Rangers-Astros 1-0 game last weekend scored on — what else? — a Burger to go! Yep, I'm definitely talking about a Jake Burger homer, off Hunter Brown.
• The first team to sweep the mighty Dodgers this season was … the Angels? Wait. Didn't they used to have a player named Ohtani, too?
• The Cubs' Jameson Taillon may not have beaten the Mets in his May 9 start in Queens – but if it's consistency you're looking for, he's your man. He threw exactly 25 pitches in the first inning … and 25 more in the second inning … and 25 more in the third inning … and precisely 25 more in the fourth inning. Greatest numerically correct streak since Adam Dunn hit exactly 40 homers four years in a row? (Hat tip: Eric Orns.)
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• Did the Tigers and Red Sox really play a game with eight lead changes? Yeah, they did, on May 13. There hasn't been a game with more lead changes than that in 30 years — since an unreal Cubs-Astros game at Wrigley Field on Sept. 28, 1995, in which those two teams combined to score in 15 different half-innings! (Another hat tip: Eric Orns.)
• Oh, and also … did this really happen … I mean in real life?
ARE YOU KIDDING?!?!
WILYER & CEDDANNE MAKE UNBELIEVABLE GRAB. pic.twitter.com/8WEKwRRay9
— Red Sox (@RedSox) May 15, 2025
GIVE THOSE BUCCOS A HIGH-FIVE — Not to suggest that the sweet-swinging Pirates offense is scuffling, but … these guys went into Thursday night's game against Milwaukee trying to avoid becoming the first team since 1901 to go a mind-blowing 27 games in a row without scoring five runs in any of them. (And … they broke their streak! For the first time in a month, the Pirates scored five runs in a game, although they still lost to the Brewers, 8-5.)
Does that seem hard? Let's put it this way. They last scored five (or more) on April 22. Since then, we had 71 instances of another team scoring five runs in an inning since the last time the Pirates scored five in a game.
The Yankees have done that nine times, the Cubs have done it seven times, and the Tigers have done it six times all since the Pirates scored five runs over nine innings. Baseball in Pittsburgh is something.
RED ROCKS — Speaking of offenses that make no sense, let's talk about the Big Red Careen, one of the most bizarre offensive juggernauts of modern times.
The 0-10-0 Club: Ready for this wild ride? May 9: Reds get shut out in Houston. May 10: Reds score 10 runs in the first inning in Houston. May 11: Reds get shut out in Houston again!
So who else in history has ever joined that 0-10-0 Club? I enlisted the help of my friend Joel Luckhaupt, the great Reds TV nugget-finder, to dig through the modern era with me. How many teams since 1901 did we find who layered a shutout sandwich around a 10-run first inning? Right you are. That would be zero.
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The 20-20 Club: Or how about this? On April 20, the Reds scored 24 runs in one game – in a 24-2 thrashing of the Orioles. But in other news, they've already been shut out eight times this season, which puts them on pace to get blanked 24 times.
I took way too much time out of my otherwise-productive life trying to find how many teams have gotten shut out 20 times, but also scored 20-plus runs in a game, in the same season. Want to guess how many others have done it in the live-ball era (1920-present)? As always, zero would be a spectacular guess.
CHEAPER BY THE TWO DOZEN — There's nothing better in life than our annual traditions. Some people go to the beach every year. But the Minnesota Twins? They win a dozen games in a row every year.
They spun off a 12-game streak last year. They topped it with a 13-game streak this year. Does that seem hard? Here's how hard:
The White Sox, who play in the same division as the Twins, have also had two 12-game winning streaks … in the entire live-ball era. But they did have one as recently as 1961.
The Royals, who also play in the AL Central, have had two winning streaks of 12 or longer in the history of their franchise (now in Year 57). They last did this in 1994.
The Brewers and Padres also have two in the history of their franchise … combined. That's one apiece, neither in this century.
But the Twins do this every darned year. Hey, it's their special tradition.
THE JV SQUAD — A funny thing happened to Justin Verlander in San Francisco on May 12. He served up two home runs that day to Arizona power-speed dynamo Corbin Carroll.
So what's so Weird and Wild about that? Just one thing: Carroll was the first player to homer at least twice in a game off Verlander in that park since … Pablo Sandoval mashed two off him in the Panda's fabled three-homer game in Game 1 of the 2012 World Series.
One more addendum. Pablo Sandoval will not be described as a power-speed dynamo.
KING OF THE HILL — The Weird and Wild transaction of the month: Kansas City Royals sign LHP Rich Hill to a minor-league contract.
So what's so Weird and Wild about that? This man is 45 years old!
Ready for a rundown of all the pitchers in this century who won a game at 45 or older? Of course you are.
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Bartolo Colon — won five games in 2018.
Jamie Moyer — won 39 games after turning 45, between 2008-12.
Randy Johnson — won five games in 2009 (including his 300th win).
Roger Clemens — won three games in 2007.
Jesse Orosco — won three in relief in 2003.
How could we not be rooting for Rich Hill to join that group of legends?
THE SCHWARBINO CAN LEAD 'EM OR CLEAN 'EM — I keep thinking about Kyle Schwarber. Never forget that he's one of the most unique players ever, OK?
He led the league in homers in 2022, as a leadoff man. He bashed 38 of his 46 long balls that year while batting first for the Phillies.
Now fast-forward to this season, where he mostly bats cleanup … and he's on pace to hit 55 homers.
That got me thinking. How many players in history have ever had 35-homer seasons (or more) as both a leadoff man and a cleanup man? Once again, none would be a highly intelligent guess.
After a way too lengthy tour of the Baseball Reference/Stathead data rabbit hole, I found just one man who even came close — Alfonso Soriano. Hit 35, 38 and 39 as a leadoff man. But topped out at 27 in two different seasons as a No. 4 hitter (in 2012 and 13, for the Cubs and Yankees).
Now imagine a guy leading the league as both a leadoff hitter and cleanup hitter. One of the coolest feats ever.
FEVER PITCH — You know what they say. Closing: what an easy job?
Oh, all right. Nobody says that. But not everybody can be Luke Weaver, trusty Yankees closer.
Over the last week, he's piled up two saves and a win — on a total of 10 pitches.
Two-pitch save last Friday. Another two-pitch save Tuesday. Then a six-pitch win Wednesday. Can't fill up the old stat sheet more efficiently than that. (Hat tip: Chris Isidore.)
RISE OF THE ROMANO EMPIRE — In the same week the Phillies lost one closer (José Alvarado) to an 80-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs, is it possible the bigger news was their other closer, Jordan Romano?
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He just spun off two saves that both looked like this:
3 batters faced
3 batters K'd
Did you know Brad Lidge only had one three-up, three-K save in his entire Phillies career (and it wasn't even in his 'perfect' 2008)? Tug McGraw had none. Even the often-dominating Alvarado had none.
No Phillies closer has ever had two of those in one week. And only Héctor Neris (in 2019) even had two in one season. But you know what they say: Just do what the Romanos do!
EVA LONGORIA: NOT SEARCHING FOR THIS GAME — A baseball friend of mine texted me Thursday morning with a line score from Wednesday's big Algodoneros-Dorados game in the always-action-packed Mexican League. See if you can figure out why.
My friend just had one question: 'Is 33 hits a lot?'
Correct answer: Holy guacamole, that's a lot of hits.
So … how many hits is it? We've only had one game since 1900 in which any team got 33 hits … and it went 18 innings. Mule Haas' 1932 Philadelphia A's got 33 hits that day — and still lost (18-17, to Cleveland).
The most in a nine-inning in the late, great 1800s? That would be 36, by Tuck Turner's 1894 Phillies, in an Aug. 17 game against Louisville.
Always love the Mexican League!
FAMILY GUYS — I know it was a big week for the Boone family. I can make a case that it was an even cooler week for the Leiter family.
Last Sunday: Rangers rookie Jack Leiter took a no-hitter into the seventh inning in Houston.
What's so Weird and Wild about that? Let's just say it wasn't the first no-hit bid for the Leiter family!
May 11, 1996 — Jack's dad, Al Leiter, pitched a no-hitter against the Rockies.
July 26, 1995 — Al's brother, Mark, took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, for the Giants.
Aug. 23, 2017 — Mark's son, Mark Jr., took a no-hitter into the sixth, for the Phillies.
FYI, we've never seen father and son no-hitters. And we've only seen one set of brothers pitch no-hitters — the Forsch brothers (Bob and Ken). But think how close the Leiters have come to all of the above, in every possible combo.
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Baseball! It's awesome.
SUSPENDED ANIMATION — There's nothing we love more around here than those suspended games, because they roll Strange But True tidbits off their assembly line without even working hard.
So let's take you to Monday, when a waterlogged Twins-Guardians game in Minnesota had to freeze in place (and time) until they could finish it Wednesday. So what was so Strange But True about that?
Carlos Santana hit two home runs for Cleveland Wednesday — one in each game they played. But the record books will always insist that one of them left the bat on Monday. That's some hang time!
Kody Clemens had the day off Monday. Never even made it into the batter's box, in fact. But the historians will try to convince him (and us) forever that he slashed a walk-off double that day. It just didn't come down until Wednesday.
So the moral of this story is, you can suspend these baseball games. You can suspend disbelief. But you can't suspend the Strange But True section of this column, because we're paying attention out there.
BELLI'S GRAND TOUR — Did you notice this cool thing that Cody Bellinger did for the Yankees last weekend against the Mets?
Cody Bellinger grand slams the Mets
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— Baseball GIFs (@baseballgifs.bsky.social) May 18, 2025 at 10:07 PM
I don't know what you thought when that ball landed, but here's what I thought: This guy has now hit a slam for the Yankees, Cubs and Dodgers. I wonder how many other players in history have ever done that?
So yep. I looked high and low on Baseball Reference. And here's the Strange But True answer: Nobody … except him.
STRANGEST BUT TRUEST PITCHING LINES OF THE WEEK — Here come two Strange But True classics!
Boston's Tanner Houck, May 12 at Detroit:
2.1 IP, 9 H, 11 R, 11 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 2 HR, 1 HBP, 1 WP
What's so Strange But True about that? Aw, no big deal, other than the part where this start came 28 days after this same guy made another start in Tampa in which he gave up 11 earned runs in 2 1/3 innings. So how many pitchers in the modern era have ever made two starts like that in one season — at least 11 earned runs, no more than seven outs? Yep. That would be none! The only one to give up 11 twice in a season without making it through five innings? How 'bout June Greene, of the 1929 Phillies!
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Washington's MacKenzie Gore, last Friday at Baltimore:
11 outs, 10 hits, 9 strikeouts
What's so Strange But True about that? You should ask my good friends from MASN, Kevin Frandsen and Kevin Brown, because I was out to dinner when they texted me about 18 times about this game, as it was happening.
In answer to one of their questions, how many pitchers would you guess have ever had a start like that: 10 hits, nine whiffs, but didn't even get 12 outs? Zero would be correct! Nobody has ever had that start.
But that is actually not what Frandsen wanted to know. When he first texted me, it was the third inning and Gore was at eight strikeouts, eight hits and eight outs. So what, he wondered, was the record for most hits and strikeouts in a start? I'm assuming he meant the hits and strikeouts had to be the same number.
Well, there went the relaxing dinner and a stroll around town. I plopped down on a bench, delved into Baseball Reference on my phone and learned that a mere 102 years ago, Dazzy Vance had a game with 15 hits allowed and 15 strikeouts.
So were you guaranteed to read about that in this column after all that? You were!
TOUCHDOWN, PADRES — Remember the good old days, when the Padres actually scored runs once in a while? Let's roll the clock back to one of those days – May 10 – when they squeaked by the Rockies by a score of … 21-0!
So you say that's a football score! Nope. You know how many 21-0 games there were in the NFL all last season? Yessir. None.
So you still say that's a football score? Let's try this another way. The Rockies trailed, 7-0 … and 14-0 … and 21-0 in this game. OK, how many times did the Broncos trail by all those scores in any game last season? Right. Also none!
But they're the Rockies! And what a week they had. Counting a doubleheader on May 8, they gave up 55 runs … in three days. According to our friends from STATS, no team had allowed that many runs over any three-day span in 75 years – since Cuddles Marshall's 1950 St. Louis Browns gave up 56 to the Red Sox (June 7-9 at Fenway Park).
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But that's not all! Because Padres rookie Stephen Kolek threw a shutout that day, in his second career start. It was the largest margin of victory in any nine-inning shutout in the modern era … and it was only one touchdown short of tying the record for biggest margin in any individual shutout. And who holds that record? The one, the only, Old Hoss Radbourn, in a 28-0 gem on Aug. 21, 1883. (Hat tip: Sarah Langs.)
Wait. Did I just throw out another football reference? Guilty!
THE DIRTY DOZEN — Finally, how bizarre is baseball? This bizarre …
The Diamondbacks last Saturday: scored 12 runs … and they lost (14-12 to the Rockies).
The Diamondbacks last Sunday: scored one run … and they won (1-0).
Last team to do that: Danny Tartabull's 1986 Mariners. Lost a 13-12 game to the Yankees on Aug. 29, then won a 1-0 game the next day, Bill Swift over Tommy John.
Amazing, you say? Nope. Just another weekend in the Strange But True sport of …
Baseball!
(Top photo of Shohei Ohtani whiffing against Jhonny Pereda: Brandon Sloter / Getty Images)