Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 546 - 122: Race Against Time

"Today's match sees both teams adopting a rather conservative offensive strategy..." commented Ohtani Shuhei, who was responsible for the commentary in the West Japan Television studio.

Beside him, Ikedada Shinko nodded in agreement, saying, "Indeed, but I think it's understandable. After all, for both teams, this match is a crucial battle they can hardly afford to lose—Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters are already trailing by a wide margin, losing this game would be like standing on the edge of a cliff, and SoftBank can't accept letting a 2-0 series lead be caught up to a 2-2 tie."

"In such a context, it's understandable that both teams choose a more conservative strategy, making the game seem somewhat dull..."

As the two commentators discussed the game, the broadcast cameras simultaneously focused on the Eagle's Vision stand: 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

So far, in this crucial battle that will decide the series, the home-playing SoftBank team is temporarily leading 1-0, thanks to a critical hit by Yanagida Yuuki in the bottom of the third inning.

By the sidelines, the managers of both teams stood in their respective areas outside the player's dugout, their expressions equally serious; both teams' players were also sitting properly on the bench, taking every moment to rest—since every at-bat in the following innings could be the decider of both teams' fate, and even alter the historical timeline of the entire season, no room for even the slightest carelessness.

Taking a sports drink from the hands of the logistics staff, Lin Guanglai gulped it down; so far in this game, aside from Yanagida Yuuki's hit that earned the team a run, he, as the fifth batter, hasn't had much opportunity to perform in batting.

As the chief umpire called SoftBank's defensive players to the field, Oonari Kenji, who was the starting pitcher today, also walked towards the field with his catcher partner, Hosokawa Kei, discussing on the way how to tackle the batters from the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters—SoftBank's pitching and catching prowess would face a tremendous test in this half inning, as they would start with the fourth batter, Nakata Shou, in a situation where both sides have faced each other several times, and the batters have become more familiar with the pitchers.

As a super batter who has hit over 20 homers in three consecutive seasons, Nakata Shou is known for his high first-pitch swing rate, always topping the Nippon Professional Baseball, with a pull hitting ratio consistently above 50% and fly ball rates always in the top three of the league; he's an aggressive, pull hitting fly ball batter; but meanwhile, a high chase rate over bad pitches exceeding 30% over the years and relatively weak against breaking balls are his shortcomings.

Oonari Kenji and Hosokawa Kei devised a strategy to target his weaknesses with high inside corners and low outside corners—the former effectively suppresses his pull hitting tendency, easily producing fouled balls, infield pop-ups, and harmless outfield fly balls; while the latter's breaking ball itself won't be easy to discern, allowing for strikeouts and misses effectively.

Judging from the results of the previous balls, this strategy proved quite effective, quickly giving the SoftBank pitcher-catcher duo a 2-2 advantageous situation; with just one more good pitch, they could get Nakata Shou out, resolving a significant threat.

However, what makes a strong batter strong is precisely their ability to break through constraints and hit the ball, even under temporary suppression by the opposing pitcher in a single at-bat—

Facing the ball that Oonari Kenji threw towards his inside corner, Nakata Shou decisively adjusted his batting posture, twisting the upper half of his body holding the bat towards the ball, thereby forcibly hitting it out.

This shot caught SoftBank's defense off guard: As the ball flew rapidly towards the shortstop area, Imamiya Kenta leapt high into the air, attempting to intercept the ball mid-air, but ultimately failed to stop it.

The baseball flew over his head and fell deep into the outfield; by the time Left Fielder Nakagawa Seiichi caught it in his glove and prepared to return it to the infield, Nakata Shou had already reached the second base and stopped.

"This double has a big impact on the situation—SoftBank's situation now looks troubling!" Almost at the same moment Nakata Shou reached second base, Ohtani Shuhei in the studio made this comment.

The SoftBank fans at the home ground were getting excited at this moment, not wanting to see the team waste a 2-0 lead; thus, when Ohtani Shohei came up to bat, the stands at Yahoo Dome erupted with loud jeers.

However, this setup seemed to have no effect on Ohtani Shohei; standing in the batter's box, he simply lowered his head slightly, swinging his bat with an expression as calm as water, showing no other emotion.

When Oonari Kenji pitched the ball, a crisp sound of "crack" quickly echoed throughout the Yahoo Dome; in the ears of the home crowd, that sound was more terrifying than a resonating bell.

The baseball hit by Ohtani Shohei's bat flew back onto the field like an arrow, targeting SoftBank's most vulnerable outfield defense, and even though the outfielders chased desperately, the ball still landed before they could reach it.