Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 382 - 31: A New Record

After striking out Ohtani Shohei with an unexpected changeup in the bottom of the third inning, Lin Guanglai was clearly in an unstoppable state. Standing at the threshold of tying Nippon Professional Baseball’s consecutive strikeout record, just one strikeout away, how could he let go of this opportunity?

Facing Ham Team’s ninth batter, catcher Takeshima Shinya, known for his defense and ability to guide pitchers, the now fully open Lin Guanglai naturally wouldn’t falter at this critical moment.

"No problem! Lin Guanglai, the ninth consecutive strikeout!!!"

"July 23, 1957, Hankyu, Kajimoto Ryuo."

"May 31, 1958, Toei, Dobashi Masayuki."

"And now, April 5, 2013, after a 55-year wait, SoftBank’s Lin Guanglai has tied this record—he even has the chance to push this record further forward and engrave his name in the history of Japan’s professional baseball as a rookie player!"

SoftBank fans watching this game felt overjoyed: their home team’s recent poor performance had affected their mood—but today’s game filled them with hope, anticipating a victory to kickstart a winning streak.

Many of them felt a single regret—that Lin Guanglai’s record wasn’t set at the home game in Yahoo Dome. Watching their genius rookie crush the opponent’s lineup while having a drink after work felt satisfying, but nothing compared to witnessing history live at the game with fellow fans.

Fans of other teams also watched with intentions to witness history or for entertainment; yet, they too felt some regret.

Why didn’t their team’s manager and management secure Lin Guanglai at the nomination meeting? Even if they couldn’t acquire him, attempting would have been worthwhile—judging by his performance early in the season, isn’t he a potential Major League level superstar?

The ones truly hurting are the Ham Team fans...

"How did it come to this... Just last season, they were the Pacific League champions, nearly clinched Japan’s Number One, and secured the most outstanding rookie at the nomination meeting... they should’ve had more victories, a dream-like joy... but why did it come to this..."

In the stands at Sapporo Dome, the Ham fans there looked soulless as the hope rekindled not long ago was extinguished once more.

However, the torment for Ham fans was far from over...

In the top of the fourth inning, following Lin Guanglai’s record-tying, SoftBank’s veteran lineup demonstrated their determination to win this game and end their losing streak through their actions.

Facing the well-performing Nakamura Katsu in this game, the first batter Imamiya Kenta decisively swung the bat, sending the ball flying over Daiin Keiji’s head, crossing the entire infield, and landing in the left outfield near the front, allowing Imamiya to successfully reach first base.

The third batter, Nakagawa Seiichi, continued his promising batting streak into the new season, persistently pressuring the pitcher Nakamura Katsu, forcing him to eventually throw a four-ball walk.

No outs, runners on first and second, and it was the perfect opportunity for the fourth batter, slugger Lahai’er, to extend the scoring advantage, much needed for SoftBank to break their slump with a victory.

However, despite being signed with a nearly 200 million salary as a cleanup hitter, Lahai’er’s performance was disappointing, fooled by Nakamura Katsu’s forkball, swinging and missing for a strikeout.

In the visitor’s dugout, Akiyama Koji, with arms crossed, looked grimly at Lahai’er on the field, filled with regret: apart from the starting pitcher’s poor performance, another key reason for SoftBank’s unfavorable start this season was that two foreign players, Lahai’er and Pena, who together received nearly 400 million in salary, were not delivering, wasting many scoring opportunities created by local players.

Now that Lin Guanglai’s rotation plan was more or less settled, Akiyama Koji pondered whether to directly use him as the designated hitter—this could not only reduce Lin Guanglai’s defensive wear and tear during games, but after the season ends, the team could also save a considerable amount of salary space for reinforcements in other positions, a win-win situation.

Fortunately, following Lahai’er, Matsuda Naohiro did not disappoint SoftBank fans again: seizing a mistake from Nakamura Katsu, Matsuda Naohiro slugged the ball straight to the left outfield stands of Sapporo Dome, plunging the already quiet grand stadium into deeper silence.

If you were to ask Lin Guanglai, as a starting pitcher for a professional team, what is the happiest thing?

It is undoubtedly receiving relentless run support from your own lineup when you take the mound—today, he finally got to experience this!

With a four-run advantage as support, Lin Guanglai, already in excellent form today, felt even more relaxed; appearing on the broadcast screen, he walked to the mound with his glove in hand, chattering jovially with his teammates beside him.

The opponent remained Yang Dai-Kang, whom he faced in the first inning, but unlike before, this time there were no cheers from the home crowd surrounding him.

Tired, indifferent, ready to annihilate completely—this was likely the mindset of the Ham fans at this moment.

Shedding the playful grin on his face, Lin Guanglai instantly switched to game mode: being one step away from writing his name into professional baseball history, he would not allow himself any errors.

The more critical the moment, the more thoughts come to mind; the more thoughts, the more mistakes tend to occur—to prevent such a situation, Hosokawa Kei chose the simplest pitching strategy for this at-bat, fully utilizing Lin Guanglai’s fast and heavy pitches to directly confront Yang Dai-Kang in the strike zone.

After four pitches, with a count of 2 balls and 2 strikes, both sides seemed evenly matched, with the pitcher holding a slight advantage.

Nodding toward Hosokawa Kei, Lin Guanglai quickly delivered his fifth pitch of this at-bat.

In Yang Dai-Kang’s eyes, it was a fastball that his dynamic vision couldn’t track—but he didn’t dare to gamble on Lin Guanglai throwing a ball. Rather than watching a strikeout passively, Yang Dai-Kang decided to rely on experience and luck, attempting to swing, just in case he hit it. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"Pow!"

No contingency!

On the mound, Lin Guanglai, having achieved his 10th consecutive strikeout of the game, raised his arms triumphantly—at this moment, it seemed the world was at his feet!