Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 441 - 73: Tears of the Pitcher Kingdom

"In the climax match of his professional career, as the batter, Lin Guanglai was firing on all cylinders—in the first two at-bats, a home run and a hit that brought in a run—what kind of performance will he deliver in the upcoming third at-bat? Let’s wait and see!"

As soon as Lin Guanglai’s face appeared on the screen in front of them, the three people in the broadcast room immediately perked up:

Ito Kei had a stern look on his face, as Lin Guanglai had become the most dreaded target for this Seibu supporter;

Takeshita Yohei could hardly contain his excitement, as a neutral commentator, his only hope was to see a more thrilling game;

And Kohkubo Yuuki appeared relaxed, as up to this point, the game had almost been a unilateral onslaught of SoftBank over Seibu, and as long as the game remained steady, the crucial first victory would be easily secured, so as a Softbank fan, he felt no psychological pressure.

Taking the baseball returned by Tanaka Ginjin, Takayuki Kishi wiped the sweat off his forehead with his sleeve—in the past four innings, not only had he given up four runs, but his pitch count had also surpassed the 70-pitch mark; facing Lin Guanglai again, his psychological pressure was quite substantial.

Lin Guanglai’s stance remained the same as in the previous two at-bats, only this time, Seibu’s pitcher-catcher tandem would rather risk a surge in bad balls than pressure him with inside pitches as in the first at-bat—evidently, Takayuki Kishi had been intimidated by SoftBank’s batters!

Facing several pitches continuously thrown by Takayuki Kishi from the pitcher’s mound, Lin Guanglai didn’t swing once, allowing three straight balls to pass into the strike zone; and the umpire’s call was very much in his favor: 3 balls, 0 strikes, right from the start of this at-bat, Seibu’s pitcher and catcher were forced to the edge of a cliff.

Lin Guanglai frowned, deciding to temporarily step out of the batter’s box to think about his strategy: theoretically, facing a 3-ball, 0-strike situation where the opposing pitcher couldn’t deliver threatening inside pitches, the safest course of action should be to calmly select a walk to the base, and thereafter rely on SoftBank’s adept combination of fast and slow ball tactics to continue steadily scoring runs.

But dealing with the current batter who had lost the intimidation of inside pitches, Lin Guanglai felt that if he pursued just a walk in this at-bat, it might be a bit of a waste—out of strict compliance with strike zone discipline, there were a few balls he chose not to swing at in the previous three pitches.

Standing outside the batter’s box, after signaling with his eyes and gestures to confirm with Manager Akiyama, Lin Guanglai received a positive reply—this at-bat, Manager Akiyama Koji gave him greater autonomy in offense; next, he could swing more aggressively at the pitcher.

To sum up, with his team leading 4-0 and the opposing pitcher’s control clearly off, Akiyama Koji indeed wanted his players to play more aggressively—ideally aiming to extend the lead to a gap that would leave Seibu in despair by the 5th or 6th inning, allowing him to pull Shetsu Shou out early to conserve energy for the coming games.

Having gained the manager’s approval, a confident Lin Guanglai stepped back into the batter’s box to prepare for hitting, his overall energy level was quite high; clearly, today’s excellent hitting performance had boosted his confidence in the game another notch.

On the pitcher’s mound, Takayuki Kishi released the pitch—targeting the upper part of the strike zone that most batters would typically pass on; instead of trying to continue fighting for good pitches, Takayuki Kishi was probably hoping to walk Lin Guanglai to first base, even though he also posed a significant threat there.

"Thud!"

To the surprise of the three commentators in the broadcast room and many spectators, facing this ambiguous high straight ball in the strike zone, Lin Guanglai chose to swing at 3 balls, 0 strikes.

The baseball was hit by his swung bat and ended up flying above the deep right field stands.

balls, 1 strike.

On the following outside breaking ball, Lin Guanglai swung the bat once again—this time the result was like a mirror image of the previous ball, hitting the ball close to the third-base line and finally landing over the foul pole into the stands, causing the home audience to gasp and making the heart of Takayuki Kishi on the pitcher’s mound skip a beat.

balls, 2 strikes.

"Oh no, even though the results of these two balls hit by Lin Guanglai were quite good, how should I put it, hitting two foul balls on a 3-ball, 0-strike count almost turned a certain on-base opportunity into an evenly matched duel between the pitcher and batter...for the next pitch, if Takayuki Kishi can strike out Lin, then maybe this at-bat could be the turning point of the game!"

Observing the ever-changing situation within the stadium, Takeshita Yohei, as a commentator, also expressed his views—clearly, as an old-school commentator, he wasn’t particularly supportive of Lin Guanglai’s approach; in his eyes, having a secured hit on base was definitely more important than aiming for a medium to long-distance hit like this.

"Indeed, Lin’s handling of these two recent pitches seems a bit impatient—he was quite disciplined with the strike zone on the first three, but these two..." Ito Kei paused slightly, then continued, "Perhaps that’s just how young players are, when they’re on a hot streak, they sometimes can’t contain their urge to swing, I too was like that when I was younger..."

"I have a bit of a different perspective from the two of you..." Kohkubo, on the other hand, was silent for a moment, and only after the two finished their assessment did he begin to speak, "Lin’s performance in this game up until now—2 at-bats, a home run, and a hit—his status is visibly remarkable—facing such a player, in my belief, this level of batter should indeed be given more room to execute..."

"This caliber of batter, as long as they hit the ball solidly, has a high probability of achieving a medium to long-distance hit or even a home run. In contrast, merely walking to first base should actually be considered a losing trade, don’t you think? Maybe on the next pitch, Lin Guanglai will hit another home run..."

Hearing Kohkubo’s words, the other two couldn’t help but laugh; they took this as Kohkubo’s inherent bias and fondness towards his Softbank team’s players. After chatting for a while longer, they promptly refocused their attention back on the game.

The advantage of 3 balls, 0 strikes quickly turned into a balanced full count matchup, but Lin Guanglai felt no panic whatsoever—in his view, the cost was totally acceptable.

Seeing that they were just one pitch away from striking out the opponent, Takayuki Kishi and Tanaka Ginjin’s minds became a bit more active: even though their initial plan was to walk the batter, now in this completely even situation, perhaps...

With that thought, the Seibu pitcher-catcher team exchanged glances, understanding what the other wanted to express; noticing the signaling gesture from Tanaka Ginjin, Takayuki Kishi nodded in agreement, swiftly closing his glove at his chest and, without much adjustment, threw the ball.

This ball, inside corner!!!

In the batter’s box, Lin Guanglai slightly bent his knees, lowering his center of gravity; almost at the exact moment Takayuki Kishi released the ball, his entire body reacted, quickly initiating to prepare for hitting—his core muscles suddenly tensed, driving his shoulders and arms—and with the bat gripped tightly, like a hot knife through butter, he drew a crisp arc in the air, accompanied by a sharp "thud" as it struck the center of the ball.

The instant the bat collided with the ball, it was like a spark lighting a fuse, and the small white ball transformed into a rocket, shooting straight into the sky.

In the Yahoo Dome, amidst the vociferous cheers of over forty thousand Softbank fans, the baseball flew higher and higher, farther and farther. The Seibu outfielders didn’t even attempt more than a few symbolic steps before stopping powerlessly, looking up at the trajectory of the descending ball.

The baseball slammed into the stands with force, and the crowd erupted in a wave of cheers, akin to a mountain roaring and a tsunami rolling.

Under the watchful eyes of Takayuki Kishi, filled with despair, Lin Guanglai made a round of the bases, and was then engulfed by the tide of his teammates.