"I was locked in for him" - Giants rookie Spencer Bivens recalls striking out Shohei Ohtani during exciting faceoff at Oracle Park
The San Francisco Giants' Spencer Bivens, after about 10 years in the minor leagues, eventually cracked the big leagues and came face to face with Shohei Ohtani. A rookie, and one that toiled in the minor leagues for so long, against a two-time MVP is a matchup that would generally be advantageous for Ohtani, but Bivens came away with success three different times in that game.
Bivens said of his outing at Oracle Park:
"Yeah and then I started against the Dodgers and that was like the coolest moment ever. So I'm a part of this rivalry now... First pitch was a sinker close but it was a ball. Next one he took for a strike. I busted him in with a cutter in, got him to ground out. Made it pretty close at first... almost ran into him."
The second and third at-bats were even better for Bivens, who struck the NL MVP candidate out:
"I struck him out on a fastball up and in. The third time... that inning, I remember my velo was down to like 92, 93. I remember my velo coming back for Ohtani because I was locked in for him. Four-seam away, swung through. Two-seam in, swung through. Sweeper back foot, perfectly executed."
He finished by saying he was "hyped" to be able to throw all three pitches successfully against one of the best hitters in baseball. He said ti was a decade of emotion coming out after the success.
Spencer Bivens earned win against Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers
Spencer Bivens' success against Shohei Ohtani is impressive. It's even more impressive when looking at his final stat line. The pitcher only recorded three strikeouts, and two of them came against Ohtani, who is hitting .309 with the second-best OPS in baseball this year.
All told, Bivens pitched five innings. He allowed four hits, one earned run (a home run by Chris Taylor), and had no walks with the aforementioned three strikeouts. He was credited with the win. It was a good outing, and his season has been good. He is 2-1 with a 2.08 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and 21.2 innings pitched.