Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 404 - 53: Thunderstruck

"Bottom of the ninth inning, two outs, runners on first and second base—can number nine, Yamazaki Katsumi, do it?"

"In this interleague game against the Yokohama BayStars at home, the SoftBank Team, trailing 0-4, launched a desperate comeback in the latter half of the game. Now, they’re just one run away from overturning the score!"

"Yamazaki Katsumi, he only needs to hit a single... In the on-deck circle, Lin Guanglai, the number one batter, is already prepared—if Yamazaki can extend the game to reset the lineup, the SoftBank Team has a significant chance to stage a comeback!"

"Let’s watch this pitch!!!"

With an exclamation from the live commentator, on the mound at Yahoo Dome, Yokohama BayStars’ closer Jorge Sosa hurled the ball toward home plate, and in the batter’s box, Yamazaki Katsumi swung his bat at the incoming baseball.

"Thud—!"

Amid the gasps of tens of thousands of SoftBank fans, Yamazaki Katsumi hit a ground ball towards second base, but its speed was slightly lacking. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

This weak grounder posed no challenge for a professional-level infielder, and Yokohama BayStars’ second baseman, Ken Ichiura, effortlessly caught the ball, gently tossing it to the first baseman, thus ending the half-inning and the whole game.

"Ah—what a pity!" Seeing this scene, the commentator in the broadcast studio uttered in regret, "Since the interleague series began, aside from the two average performances against Hiroshima Toyo, the SoftBank Team has completely regained its form."

"After sweeping the Hanshin Tigers at Koshien, they returned home for a three-game winning streak, consecutively defeating Chunichi Dragons and Yokohama BayStars, with each game being a big win of over 10 points scored."

"For today’s game, if it weren’t for the early problems from starting pitcher Oonari Kenji, the SoftBank Team would have had a great chance to win..."

Following the post-game processes and the post-game greetings with the opposing coach, and after accepting interviews from the home media, Akiyama Koji hurriedly left the stadium’s interior, returning to his office—where Daisuke Oishi was holding a medical report sent back from a hospital in Fukuoka City.

The most crucial factor in SoftBank’s loss today was that Oonari Kenji, who started on the mound, gave up 4 runs in the first 2 and a half innings, but that wasn’t his fault—if anyone had to be accountable for today’s loss, Akiyama Koji felt the greatest responsibility lay with himself.

Since entering May, Oonari Kenji had repeatedly reported backaches during training, even to the point of having to cancel his registration on the first team;

Initially, both the team’s medical personnel, the coaching team, and Oonari Kenji himself thought the symptoms might just be fatigue-induced back pain. After all, he participated in the WBC at the start of the year, and his fatigue level was much higher than others, so the symptoms were understandable.

However, before today’s game started, Oonari Kenji again experienced back discomfort, yet he personally claimed it had little impact and insisted on playing; given the tight starting rotation, Akiyama Koji naturally respected his choice, allowing him to pitch despite the discomfort.

Judging from the result of this game, the discomfort likely impacted Oonari Kenji significantly: his speed and quality of pitches had decreased considerably, not just compared to his peak, but even to his slumps.

"What’s Kenji’s current situation? Is it serious? If he needs to be absent, is there an estimated timeframe?"

As soon as he walked through the office door, Akiyama Koji bluntly asked Daisuke Oishi about Oonari Kenji’s injury. The latter didn’t verbally respond, instead handing over the medical report he was holding.

"According to the current reports, Kenji’s condition is not very optimistic. His back pain seems to be more than just ordinary lumbar strain, but rather ’ossification of the yellow ligament.’

"’Ossification of the yellow ligament’? What disease is that?" Akiyama Koji asked as he took the medical report from Daisuke Oishi.

"Simply put, it’s a condition where Kenji’s yellow ligament behind the spine, connecting the lamina, has thickened and ossified, gradually compressing his spinal cord nerves—which explains why he started experiencing frequent back pain in early May, recurring despite long rests."

"So, this means Kenji will be absent again for some time?" Flipping through the report page by page, Akiyama Koji’s expression grew increasingly grave.

"It’s not just about some time ahead—" Daisuke Oishi paused briefly, then continued, "The real question is whether Kenji can even continue his professional career!"

Hearing his partner’s words, Akiyama Koji suddenly looked up in disbelief, staring at him and asking, "Are you serious?"

Daisuke Oishi nodded: "Of course, in Japan’s medical community, ossification of the yellow ligament is considered a difficult-to-treat disease. The ossified yellow ligament compressing the spinal cord can cause symptoms like lower limb numbness and muscle weakness; in severe cases, it may lead to paralysis of the lower limbs and intermittent claudication—Nippon Professional Baseball has had four cases of this disease previously, and the best recovery was a retirement after three years."

"So, you mean..." Although he already knew the likely outcome, Akiyama Koji still harbored a sliver of hope and didn’t finish his sentence.

But Daisuke Oishi quickly finished the latter half for him: "Yes, according to the hospital, the sooner the lesion is detected and surgery is performed, the better it will aid his future recovery and align with the team’s long-term interests. But if Kenji really undergoes surgery, it means at least this season is already over for him."

Boom—!!!

When Daisuke Oishi uttered the words "season over," Akiyama Koji felt dizzy, as if struck by lightning right on his forehead.

This season so far has been full of ups and downs for the SoftBank Team; finally, during the interleague series, they managed a long-awaited winning streak, only to have it ended at this critical moment, followed by the news of a key rotation player’s season ending injury.

With the third in the rotation Oonari Kenji out, it means that now the SoftBank is left with only two pitchers capable of covering innings and securing wins for the team, so who will fill in the gap?

Akiyama Koji wished someone would tell him what to do next...