Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 389 - 38: Lin Guanglai’s Counterattack

On the ancient outfield scoreboard of Miyagi Stadium, the score currently stands at 2-0, with the home team Rakuten Golden Eagles leading the visiting SoftBank Hawks. The bottom of the second inning has just ended.

In the two innings completed, despite the SoftBank lineup twice facing situations with runners in scoring position, Tanaka Masahiro, the ace pitcher, successfully neutralized these threats one by one, leaving runners stranded;

But SoftBank wasn’t as fortunate: in the situation with one out and bases empty, shortstop Imamiya Kenta and first baseman Lahai’er consecutively committed wild throws and errors, unnecessarily gifting Rakuten a two-run advantage.

Now the game enters the top of the third inning, with SoftBank Team’s offense led by Lin Guanglai, who is stepping up for the first at-bat once again today.

In his first at-bat facing Tanaka Masahiro, the opponent successfully deceived him with a fast forkball, striking him out; in this at-bat, Lin Guanglai doesn’t want to repeat the earlier at-bat’s outcome.

Even though he struck out in the first at-bat, Lin Guanglai’s aggression at the plate hasn’t diminished in the slightest; he still boldly swings without hesitation when decisive action is needed.

After contending with Tanaka Masahiro for six or seven pitches, the count reaches a full count of 3 balls and 2 strikes, causing both sides to explosively expend energy in a short time.

As the baseball returns to Tanaka Masahiro’s hand on the pitcher’s mound, Shima Keihiro, crouching behind home plate, signals him—this last pitch should be a highly tempting bad ball!

Agreeing with his partner’s suggestion, Tanaka Masahiro nods approvingly, because he himself shares this thought:

Lin Guanglai is an outstanding batter; over the past half month, his performance was even considered top-tier—how could such a batter allow the umpire to determine his own fate?

Tanaka Masahiro bets that Lin Guanglai will definitely swing at the next pitch, and at least hit a foul ball.

Pitching action initiates instantly, arms flinging the ball out as the baseball shoots toward home plate with a considerable initial speed, reaching in front of home plate in the blink of an eye.

"Snap."

This is the sound of the baseball contacting the catcher’s mitt.

"Four balls, batter advances to base!"

After the umpire announces his judgment, Lin Guanglai tosses the bat to the side and quickly runs toward first base, leaving the bewildered Rakuten battery in disarray.

Before they fully recover from the plan’s unexpected failure, Lin Guanglai has already positioned himself near first base and started putting pressure on the pitcher.

Lin Guanglai knows very well what’s most important as a leadoff hitter: his main battles should be on the base paths. Only by being the first to get on base can the team’s tactics come into play and the subsequent hitters face pitchers with a more relaxed mindset, thereby gaining a bigger offensive momentum for the team.

Lin Guanglai admits that he indeed wants to have a head-to-head showdown with Tanaka Masahiro in the batter’s box for victory; but he will only pursue such actions when a can’t-miss hitting opportunity arises.

In professional baseball, individual will should serve the sole purpose of achieving team victory; Lin Guanglai is not someone who would sacrifice team interests for personal desires.

Moreover, during this at-bat, Lin Guanglai, as a hitter, roughly guesses Tanaka Masahiro’s mindset: certainly thinking of himself as a gifted player, performing extraordinarily well in the month since entering professional baseball, he absolutely believes he’ll lose composure and swing at a full count due to various reasons.

Riding on such thoughts, Lin Guanglai preemptively guessed that the Rakuten battery is very likely going for an exceptionally tempting bad ball to coerce a swing—having insight into the opponent’s thoughts, he chose to exploit such mindset inversely, thus securing a four-ball walk.

When Tanaka Masahiro recovers from disarray and glances toward Lin Guanglai at first base, he discovers that the young junior is also watching him. His eyes seem to say:

"Senior Tanaka, witness my response." 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Standing at first base, Lin Guanglai continuously keeps the Rakuten battery alert by leading off and returning; this bothers Tanaka Masahiro, forcing him to try holding Lin back two to three times, greatly affecting his normal pitching rhythm.

Facing pressure, Tanaka Masahiro, this always resilient super ace, unexpectedly commits a rare wild pitch—his pitch goes significantly lower than the strike zone, and deviates substantially from the catcher’s target area; the unreacted Shima Keihiro instinctively tries to block with his leg, yet the baseball loses control after hitting his body, rolling toward the open space near third base.

Grasping Tanaka Masahiro’s mistake, Lin Guanglai successfully advances to second base—if only the space between bases were not limited at Miyagi Stadium; at a larger venue like Yahoo Dome, with Lin Guanglai’s speed, he might have gone directly to third base.

No outs, runner at second base—a series of pitching mishaps and a wild pitch; within the third inning’s unfolding, Tanaka Masahiro’s steadfast defense slowly reveals flaws under Lin Guanglai’s constant pressure.

Outside the dugout on third base side, Akiyama Koji quickly signals bunting instructions to Honda Yuichi at the plate and Lin Guanglai at second base, aiming to push Lin Guanglai toward third base—both of them touch the front of their helmets simultaneously, indicating they received the directive.

After a short halt for adjustments, Tanaka Masahiro resumes pitching; as he lifts his foot, Lin Guanglai at second base already launches toward third base; meanwhile, at home plate, meeting the aggressive pitch, Honda Yuichi swings his bat, sending the ball toward the ground.

"Thunk!" With the ball struck by the swinging bat, the baseball returns to the field, rolling toward the area between first and second base, where Rakuten Team’s second baseman Iwasaki Tatsuro is poised to receive.

Just as the home Rakuten fans presume the ball will be surely seized, the next moment, the entire Miyagi Stadium is enveloped by shocked gasps from the home fans:

"Iwasaki Tatsuro! He’s missed the ball completely!"

Elsewhere—

"Lin Guanglai! He hasn’t stopped! He’s still sprinting, still sprinting! He’s heading for home! What’s the call? Will he make it?"

Inside, upon realizing the opponent’s second baseman botched the catch to the outfield, Lin Guanglai reinitiates his sprint after an anaerobic burst, never looking back as he charges fiercely toward home.

Heaven-given opportunity should be seized, or risk its forfeiture—facing a seemingly opponent-benevolent scoring chance, why wouldn’t he gladly embrace it?

Rakuten’s right fielder reacts swiftly as well, nearly repositioning instantly upon the error, securing the ball, and promptly throwing directly toward home.

With home plate symbolizing a score so close at hand, Lin Guanglai promptly launches himself in that direction, narrowly beating Shima Keihiro, who moved in for the tag, by touching home with his hand just before him.

"SoftBank Team! A brilliant hit-and-run collaboration! Lin Guanglai scores a run for his team!"

"This is the Heisei Monster’s answer to that first-inning strikeout!"