© Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Ex-Red Sox Hurler Gives Up 118.7 MPH, 450-Foot Blast To Dodgers Shohei Ohtani
Boston's former homegrown hurler was bested by an all-time player amid a strong season
The Boston Red Sox's 2.60 team-ERA is the lowest in Major League Baseball despite the industry-wide expectation heading into the season that the staff was far from strong enough to aid their pursuit of climbing out of last-place in the American League East.
While new pitching coach Andrew Bailey appears to be working miracles in Boston, the recent success can also be attributed to the roster overhaul in recent years.
One of the most controversial moves of former chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom's tenure was the trade of All-Star Matt Barnes to the Miami Marlins for Richard Bleier -- both of whom reside in the Washington Nationals organization just one year later.
Barnes has had some early success overall but will be going viral for the next few days after allowing one of the loudest home runs in recent memory to one of the best players in the history of the sport -- Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani.
Ohtani unloaded on Barnes' first pitch of the night -- an 86 mph slider that was hung right over the heart of the plate -- and it did not take long for either side to realize that this ball was not going to come down for a while.
The jaw-dropping blast was hit 118.7 mph and traveled 450 feet according to Statcast. That would rank as the hardest hit of the season, hardest hit by a Dodger since Statcast started tracking data in 2015 and the hardest-hit home run of Ohtani's career.
Despite Ohtani using Barnes' slider as a launching pad for career feats, the 33-year-old hurler is putting together a strong season.
Barnes has a respectable 3.86 ERA with a 7-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .250 batting average against and a 1.29 WHIP in 9 1/3 innings across 10 appearances for the Nationals.
It will be a while before Barnes can get that viral moment out of his mind when his head hits the pillow at night but the overall production for the homegrown Red Sox hurler is nice to see.
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