The mystique of Shohei Ohtani has a way of striking fear into the heart of his opponents. He has a larger than life presence that feels almost superhuman in comparison to his peers. It feels like something special is imminent every time he steps to the plate.

That’s why more than 15,000 people showed up to Target Field on Monday night despite overcast skies and the temperature sitting below 50 degrees at first pitch.

Naturally, Ohtani lived up to the hype, putting on a show for everybody in attendance by going 3 for 5 with a solo home run to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 4-2 win over the Twins. It was the type of performance the Japanese superstar has been known to deliver throughout his career.

Maybe the most impressive thing was the fact that the impact of Ohtani spanned beyond the batter’s box. He even managed to make an impact from the on deck circle as he chased starter Bailey Ober simply by existing.

Never mind that Ober was in complete control only having thrown thrown 68 pitches while stifling a lethal lineup on the other end. He battled through a shaky start that featured him serving up a fastball to Ohtani that left the bat with a exit velocity of 110 mph, followed by a fastball to Freddie Freeman that might’ve been a moonshot in the middle of the summer.

After working his way out of the jam relatively unscathed, however, Ober slowly started to settle in, and his excellence on the mound actually had the Twins in position for the win. It still wasn’t enough to convince manager Rocco Baldelli to let Ober face Ohtani for a third time.

In a move that wound up defining the game, Baldelli made the conscious decision to lift Ober in favor of reliever Steven Okert. Fittingly, Ohtani blooped a double to left field on the first pitch he saw from Okert. He came around to score the tying run a couple of batters later.

That was the beginning of the end of the Twins as the bullpen struggled to contain the Dodgers. Reliever Jay Jackson gave up a solo home run to center fielder Jake Outman before Ohtani put the finishing touches on the win with a solo home run of his own.

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