Shohei Ohtani did more than just pitch Tuesday night—he made Jose Altuve look like he was chasing ghosts.

In a classic pitcher's duel at Daikin Park, the Dodgers' two-way superstar faced off against Houston's Peter Lambert. While Lambert tossed seven scoreless frames, Ohtani surrendered two earned runs over seven innings but still managed to fan eight Astros batters. None of those strikeouts were more memorable than the one that completely fooled Altuve in the bottom of the fifth.

Altuve, who came into the game with just 30 strikeouts in 133 at-bats this season, had already struck out and flied out in his first two trips against Ohtani. His third at-bat was pure theater. After Ohtani started with a pitch away, he fired two strikes. Altuve battled, fouling off two straight pitches to stay alive. But then came the sweeper—a pitch that started somewhere near the zone and ended up a foot and a half off the left side of the plate. Altuve swung anyway. It was the kind of swing that makes highlight reels for all the wrong reasons.

"Shohei Ohtani had Jose Altuve CHASING," one fan posted, and the clip quickly went viral. This will likely go down as one of the most embarrassing strikeouts of the season for a hitter of Altuve's caliber.

Ohtani was brilliant on the mound, but the Dodgers sorely missed his bat. With Ohtani not in the lineup as a hitter, Dalton Rushing took over as the designated hitter and lead-off man. Meanwhile, the Dodgers managed just six hits against Lambert and the Houston bullpen. Their only run came on Kyle Tucker's RBI single in the eighth inning—too little, too late.

The Astros got solo home runs from Christian Walker in the second and Braden Shewmake in the third, and that was all they needed. The 2-1 win evened the series, but the Dodgers find themselves in a rare rough patch, going 5-5 in their last 10 games.

For now, the story is Ohtani's artistry on the mound—and one very embarrassed All-Star who will be seeing that sweeper in his nightmares.