When is a slider not a slider? When it’s thrown by Hayato Takagi.

Watching the Yomiuri Giants-DeNA BayStars game tonight with Giants rookie Hayato Takagi on the mound, viewers were treated to this exchange between the announcer and the analyst, Japan manager Hiroki Kokubo.

Announcer: “There’s Takagi’s cutball (cut fastball). It’s really breaking for him and troubling the hitters.”

Kokubo: “Of course, when you see it, you know it’s not actually a cut fastball, but that’s what he calls it. Anybody using English would call it a slider, because that’s what it is.”

Announcer: “Yes. Of course.

Announcer: “And there’s the cut fastball again. Simply amazing.”