By the time Jayson Werth came to the plate in the fifth, he had already homered, and the Nationals had already chased Cubs starter Jake Arrieta. And that's when Carlos Villanueva snapped off a breaking pitch that was clocked at just 57 ... miles ... per ... hour. It's safe to say Werth never saw it coming.
Werth just stood there, completely frozen. But the WGN camera crew also caught his bemused reaction, his eyes kind of darting around as though he forgot where he was for an instant. Either that or he was trying to see whether the pitch speed had even registered on the scoreboard (it did).
Villanueva, who eventually got Werth to fly out to right, retired the Nats in order and was replaced in the sixth. He threw just 10 pitches. None was as close to being as slow as the one that momentarily turned Werth into a pillar of salt: