Tomase: Five pitchers David Ortiz feasted on during his career

David Ortiz will learn his Hall of Fame fate on Tuesday night, with signs pointing towards a narrow enshrinement.

If Ortiz does receive the call to Cooperstown, a number of current and former pitchers will be able to take solace in the fact that they were dominated by a Hall of Famer.

It's no surprise that Ortiz left a trail of devastation, but five pitchers in particular felt the sting of his sweet left-handed stroke, and they range from a journeyman to an All-Star to an active hurler who's his own lock for Cooperstown.

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So let's run through the five guys he really, really owned on the road to immortality.

1. Sidney Ponson

Until Xander Bogaerts came along, the burly right-hander was the most famous player from Aruba. Ponson spent 12 years in the big leagues, the majority of them in the American League East with the Orioles and Yankees from 1998-2009.

That gave him ample opportunity to face Ortiz, and Big Papi feasted. Ortiz hit .475 with three homers and 10 RBIs in 54 plate appearances vs. Ponson, but those numbers don't even begin to tell the story.

Ortiz singled in his first career at-bat vs. Ponson in 1998, and then hit his first homer against him in 2002. On Sept. 22, 2004, Ortiz started 0 for 2 before drawing a walk in the fifth and blasting a go-ahead homer in the seventh.

From that point forward, Ponson basically couldn't retire him. Over the final 24 times they faced each other, Ortiz recorded 10 hits, 11 walks, a sacrifice fly, a strikeout, and a groundout. That's an .875 on base percentage, and it's fitting that Ortiz's final four plate appearances vs. Ponson went: homer, double, walk, walk.

Ponson was out of baseball within a year, which at least meant he didn't have to see Ortiz anymore, except perhaps in his nightmares.

2. Max Scherzer

This one qualifies as a surprise, simply because by the time Scherzer joined the Tigers in 2010, he was on his way to becoming an All-Star and Cy Young Award winner. That didn't mean anything to Ortiz, who hit .429 with three homers and a 1.472 OPS in 25 plate appearances vs. one of the best pitchers of this generation.

Ortiz greeted Scherzer rudely, homering off the young right-hander the first two times he faced him in May of 2010. The first was a 459-foot blast onto the right field concourse. The second was a towering drive down the line that Scherzer referenced a decade later when Ortiz interviewed him during the 2019 World Series.

"There's a still a ball in orbit that you hit when I was in Detroit," a chagrined Scherzer joked.

Ortiz homered off Scherzer again during his Cy Young campaign in 2013, and there was nothing the right-hander could do but watch in Game 2 of that year's ALCS when Ortiz launched a grand slam off Joaquin Benoit in the eighth inning to turn Scherzer's 5-1 victory into a 6-5 loss.

In Ortiz's final at-bat vs. Mad Max in 2014, he chased the ace with an RBI double.

3. Jamie Moyer

If there's a crafty lefty Hall of Fame, Moyer would be a first-ballot selection, but no thanks to Ortiz. Because Moyer relied so heavily on a changeup, he actually produced more success against right-handed hitters than lefties throughout his 25-year career, which spanned from 1986-2012 and included a record 522 home runs surrendered.

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Ortiz touched Moyer for five of them while hitting .395 with a 1.542 OPS, his highest against any pitcher (minimum 25 plate appearances). He also played a central role in denying Moyer an improbable All-Star appearance at age 47 by doubling twice in a June meltdown that saw Moyer allow nine runs in one inning with the Phillies.

He was in the midst of an otherwise outstanding stretch that included the final shutout of his career, a complete-game win over the Padres, and then three straight victories that carried him into July. But Ortiz and the Red Sox ruined his ERA and with it his chance to play in a second Mid-Summer Classic.

4. Joel Pineiro

Nobody was happier to join the Red Sox in 2007 than Pineiro, because it gave him a reprieve from facing Ortiz.

The two nearly overlapped in the Mariners system before Ortiz was dealt to the Twins in 1996. Ortiz went just 1 for 6 vs. Pineiro with the Twins, but once he reached Boston, it was bombs away.

Ortiz hit .550 vs. Pineiro with the Red Sox, blasting three homers and driving in 12. Overall, he hit .462 against him with 1.482 OPS.

Ortiz's 100th career homer came off Pineiro, joining a club that Ortiz always found amusing. His first shot came off Julio Santana, No. 200 came off Duaner Sanchez, No. 250 came off Horacio Ramirez, and his team record-breaking 51st in 2006 came off Johan Santana.

"(Expletive)," Ortiz told me in 2009. "I've got nothing but Latin players in my book."

5. Chris Archer

Ortiz didn't just wear Archer out, he openly feuded with the fiery right-hander, which made their battles appointment viewing. It started in 2014 when Ortiz took an extra leisurely stroll around the bases after launching a mammoth homer, the first of four he'd hit against Archer.

Archer didn't like it and echoed comments from teammate David Price that Ortiz acted like he was "bigger than the game." Ortiz took exception to hearing that criticism from a 25-year-old. "Players today are too sensitive," he sniffed.

Ortiz proceeded to wear out Archer for the rest of his career, hitting .375 with four homers and 19 RBIs. The only pitcher he drove in more runs against was the late Hall of Famer Roy Halladay (24), whom he faced 109 times, compared to only 44 vs. Archer.

And let it be noted: In Ortiz's final game vs. Archer on Sept. 23, 2016, he homered. It was the 540th and next-to-last blast of his career.