Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 583 - 141: Leaping Over Takayama (Part 2)

"Strike!" The home plate umpire decisively called it.

From the stands of Ow Mountain Wild Field, exclamations and audible gasps echoed simultaneously.

Pujols frowned slightly and glanced at the umpire, expressing his disagreement in this manner—he was nothing like Harper, an impulsive young player. Direct confrontations with the umpire would only put him at a disadvantage. As an experienced legendary batter, Pujols had his own way of exerting pressure.

Briefly stepping out of the batter's box to adjust his stance, Pujols cast his gaze toward the pitcher's mound, his face void of expression. It was as if he was saying, "Young man, I'll remember that pitch."

Off the Major League All-Star dugout on the third-base side, John Farrell stood with his hands in his pockets, muttering to himself, "Outside high fastball, 159km/h, precisely controlled into the strike zone's corners. Excellent psychological composure, daring to challenge the batter on the outside corner during the opening pitch, showing no deformation under Pujols' pressure..." 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

In the mind of the Boston Red Sox's esteemed manager, Lin Guanglai's priority level was elevated yet again.

On the field, the 0-1 count left Pujols, as the batter, at a slight disadvantage; in the catcher's seat, Shima Keihiro signaled a new play: he placed his glove low on the outside corner of the strike zone—a slider!

Lin Guanglai nodded with understanding: the purpose of this pitch was to further disrupt Pujols' batting rhythm with a breaking ball moving horizontally and to challenge his ability to cover outside pitches.

With a swift arm swing, Lin Guanglai delivered the pitch, his motion nearly identical to that of a fastball, but the fingertip placement on the seam and the slight wrist snap at release marked its uniqueness.

The baseball initially headed toward the outside corner of the strike zone but dramatically slid sideways toward the left batter's box as it neared home plate—it was an exceptionally high-quality slider with an astonishing lateral movement; were it a Nippon Professional Baseball batter, they'd most likely be left in awe.

However, Pujols ranks as a generational batting legend because even when deceived by the initial trajectory or pressured physically, he often manages to hit quality pitches.

At the last moment of the pitch's deviation, Pujols' historic bat control skills came into play: even though his body had already initiated and the bat was mid-swing, he relied on his beast-like core strength to forcefully reign in his bat, following the incoming ball and connecting with it.

With a crisp "thud," Pujols, under pressure, scooped the baseball and sent it spinning backward toward the outfield—under the gaze of thirty thousand spectators, the ball skimmed the outside of the third-base foul pole before soaring into the stands, eliciting waves of astonishment.

"Tsk tsk tsk, that's Pujols for you! Even though he's on another team, I have to admit, whether it's raw talent or honed skills, he's reached the pinnacle," Cashman remarked while watching the ball sail out of play.

"That slider was actually quite good quality, but ultimately, Pujols hit it too well... Lin is rather fortunate. If this had been Albert two or three years younger, it probably would have been a home run," Joe Girardi added similarly, "Is Lin still afraid? He seems to be constantly avoiding opponents' inside corners... If he really doesn't have the courage to challenge Pujols on the inside, then I reckon the next pitch might just be a home run."

Not until he saw the baseball fly out of bounds did Lin Guanglai breathe a sigh of relief—he hadn't been the least bit careless on that pitch, whether in terms of ball quality or control, he had done his utmost; but even so, he had narrowly avoided a big hit from Pujols.

Behind the plate again, Shima Keihiro offered an outside pitch sign, seemingly wanting to solve the problem with Lin Guanglai's forkball; after pondering for a while, Lin Guanglai raised his head again, fixing a cold gaze at his opponent, resolutely shaking his head to reject the request.

The pitcher-catcher duo exchanged signals for a while, and after confirming Lin Guanglai's intentions, Shima Keihiro eventually positioned his glove close to his chest, aiming at Pujols' elbow—facing one of the best inside ball hitters of the 21st century, Lin Guanglai was determined to demonstrate his prowess to clear the batting area this way.

On the pitcher's mound, Lin Guanglai took a deep breath: he knew, the main purpose of this pitch was intimidation, a warning to the batter. Getting a strike would be ideal, but if not, it didn't matter; the most crucial thing was to earn Pujols' due respect—only by making him sense a real threat from the inside corner would he pave the way for subsequent pitches.

He put everything he had into the pitch. The baseball shot like a fire-laden missile straight toward Pujols' inside chest.

164km/h!!!

Pujols' facial muscles instantly grew tense; faced with such a menacing fastball in both speed and force, his body instinctively recoiled, avoiding the oncoming pitch; the baseball practically grazed his jersey, landing in Shima Keihiro's glove.

"Strike!" The home plate umpire maintained a decision that Pujols found hard to accept, and the legendary batter again exerted pressure on the umpire in the same manner as before.