His feet settled in the right-handed batter's box at Fenway on Saturday night, Giancarlo Stanton dropped his chin slightly, as he does before each pitch, to narrow his field of vision. With his head tilted in this way, there is only a sliver of space between the bill of his lowered batting helmet and the curl of protective gear that covers his left cheekbone, and through this, Stanton focuses on the pitcher. Like staring at the moon through a telescope.
In that moment, Boston's Darwinzon Hernandez tried to sneak a fastball past him to escape with Strike 1, but Stanton did not miss.