Shota Imanaga had never faced Shohei Ohtani before the 1st inning of Sunday afternoon’s game at Wrigley Field.

The two stars both played in Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan but never squared off over there.

On Sunday in Chicago, their first showdown was must-see TV.

After inducing a flyout from Mookie Betts, Imanaga had his first shot against Ohtani, the Dodgers’ DH.

Imanaga’s initial impression of Ohtani was simply the size of the worldwide phenom.

“When he stood in the box, he was very tall,” Imanaga said through interpreter Edwin Stanberry. “He has a presence about him and he has a really good swing.”

After a 9-pitch duel, Imanaga got the better of Ohtani, striking the slugger out on a 94 mph fastball in the upper half of the strike zone.

Six of the 9 pitches were fastballs and Imanaga started the at-bat off with back-to-back heaters. The first one was a ball and then Ohtani fouled the second pitch off.

After missing with two sweepers in a row, Imanaga went back to his 4-seam fastball and got Ohtani to swing and miss, running the count full.

Ohtani fouled the next 3 pitches off before swinging and missing on the 9th offering.

With conditions at Wrigley Field favoring pitchers (47 degrees with the wind blowing in), Imanaga knew he could be aggressive.

“The wind was blowing from right field so if he hit a pop up or something big to right, it probably wouldn’t go out,” Imanaga said. “Knowing that, I threw the fastball inside and if he does make contact, the wind would probably help me.”

The second time the two Japanese stars faced off, Ohtani popped out in the 3rd inning. Imanaga only ended up pitching 4 innings Sunday as a 2-hour, 51-minute rain delay forced him out of the game early.

Catch the full at-bat between Imanaga and Ohtani in the video above.