Sometimes, over the course of a game, the moment finds you, even when you wish it wouldn't. You can try to hide and hope to avoid it. Still, it seeks you out.
Baseball is funny that way.
When Adam Ottavino got the call to handle the bottom of the ninth inning -- closer Matt Barnes, having thrown 33 pitches in Oakland Sunday and deemed unavailable -- the Red Sox had a two-run lead over the Los Angeles Angels.
The Angels were set to send their sixth, seventh and eighth hitters in their lineup against Ottavino. Looming in the distance was Shohei Ohtani, only the hottest hitter on the planet, with 14 homers in his previous 17 games. Ohtani was six hitters away in the Angels' order when Ottavino began the inning.
"I was trying to avoid ever getting to that point,'' Ottavino would say after the Red Sox had escaped with a 5-4 victory. "I had in the back of my mind, 'Don't let Ohtani come up.' Of course, it happens.''
Of course. Because that's what most of the fans at Angel Stadium wanted: Ohtani, with the game on the line, and a bat in his hands. Pure drama, because it shouldn't end any other way.
It took some doing to get there, of course. First, Ottavino had to walk Jose Iglesias on four pitches. And then, he had to strike out the next two hitters he faced as Iglesias stole second, then third.
Ottavino had a couple of chances to wrap up the game, but allowed a single to left by No. 9 hitter Jose Rojas, scoring Iglesias to cut the Red Sox' lead to 5-4. And when leadoff hitter David Fletcher, a scrappy hitter who usually manages to put the ball in play, drove a single to left, too, the Angels had two on, two out for...Ohtani.
Because, of course.
As good as Ottavino has been all season for the Red Sox, he's had difficulty with left-handed hitters, who have hit .295 against him and posted an OPS of .824. That would be problematic against any lefty hitter in that spot; against Ohtani, it was extra worrisome.
Ottavino seldom shows any distress on the mound. The most you get out of him is an eye-roll over a missed call by the home plate umpire, or a rueful shake of the head when a hitter beats the shift. And as Ohtani stepped in and the energized crowd of 38.201 roared in anticipation, Ottavino displayed all the concern of a pitcher throwing BP on a back field in spring training.
His one-time teammate with the Yankees, Aroldis Chapman, is always so covered in perspiration that it looks as though he warmed up by doing jumping jacks in the attic. But Ottavino subscribes to the old saying: "Never let them you see you sweat.''
Which isn't to suggest that he, too, wasn't dialed in for the confrontation.
"In the moment, I was ready for battle,'' he said. "It's a fun situation.''
Ottavino had decided to attack Ohtani with sliders on the first three pitches, in part because, with the Sox shifted around to the right on Ohtani, he wanted to throw something that could be pulled. On 2-and-1, catcher Christian Vazquez called for another slider, but Ottavino determined that was too risky, and that Ohtani would be sitting on another.
Instead, Ottavino went with a fastball that missed, running the count to 3-and-1. It was time to go back to the weapon of choice.
"I just thought, 'I'm not sure what he's looking for,' but I'm going to live-and-die with my best pitch,'' recounted Ottavino. "Plus, the shift was (conducive to something he could pull), so I felt like it was a good bet and it kind of worked out.''
Ohtani hit a top-spin rocket to the right side, and with Christian Arroyo playing in shallow Long Beach, he was able to glove the ball and fire a throw to first in time to get the speedy Ohtani.
As Ohtani walked off the mound toward the foul line, the out hadn't yet been recorded, but watching where the ball had been hit and judging that he had accomplished what he wanted, he let loose with some emphatic punches in the air and unleashed additional energy vocally.
Yes, the moment had found him, even as he had hoped it wouldn't when the inning began. And when it came, Ottavino welcomed it.
Because that's the gig. Because, of course.