Chapter 302 – Episode 300. 2023 Korean Series. (2)

‘He definitely throws well.’

Austin Webb’s pitch, seen from the standby at-bat, was clearly sharp. The kind of pitching fit for an MVP candidate. If I hadn’t been there, Austin Webb would have received MVP honors this season, so his performance this season was so great.

Austin Webb was the first pitcher to win four awards in a long time since Seonghyun in 2012, with 19 wins and 209 strikeouts with an ERA of 2.48 in 192.1 innings. Of course, unlike me, who was overwhelmingly first in most records, his score was not overwhelmingly first, but even that was a pretty impressive result.

And today, he was pitching well to match his performance. From Kim Joo-yeop to Ki Ki-ju, he threw only 7 balls to get three outs. Even from my standby at bat, the ball looked better than usual, perhaps because it was the Korean Series.

“Today won’t be easy, right?”

“I see. Because the last ball was 156. “It looks like he’s really throwing it like crazy.”

The other team members seemed to have similar thoughts as me. But the good news is that this is literature. This was Munhak, a stadium where no matter how good a pitcher was, one unlucky hit would send him over the fence.

“[So you too, be careful. Okay?]”

“[It’s those guys you have to watch out for. I hope you don’t get too discouraged when you see the helmet on this body.]”

I told Krongs about the dangers of such literature, but judging by the way he spoke, it didn’t seem like he understood what I was saying.

‘Sweet, I’m anxious. Still, I have no choice but to believe.’

Despite his tone, it was true that he had a little faith in the Crongs, who gave him victory in every fall baseball game.

And as if Krongs repaid my faith,

“Out!”

“Strike out!”

“Out!”

He blocked UG’s attack in the bottom of the first inning by catching three batters in a row. Should we say that it is a real sword battle between the foreign aces of both teams? Austin Webb and Crongs were throwing good balls like aces.

And I liked this situation too. It felt like I still had the feeling of sending Ko Young-hwan’s ball flying over the fence in my hands.

“Meng Hao! “Bring it cool and come back.”

“Yes.”

I walk to the plate with the support of my seniors.

‘Mr. Rossby. ‘Let’s give it a go.’

‘Making a fuss.’

To be harsh. Are you worried that I might get excited? As I entered the batter’s box, listening to Rossby’s affectionate pounding, I felt Webb glaring at me. Well, I put it on every time we met, so I could understand that expression.

“Hello. “It’s been a while.”

“…”

I said hello to Baek Kyung-ho, UG’s starting catcher, as I was happy to see him after a long time, but it felt like he had no desire to talk to me at all.

‘It’s a fastball.’

‘Okay.’

I had no worries because I trained a lot with Rossby to match this guy’s pitching. Although he was throwing the ball about 1 to 2 km/h faster than in the regular season, it was clear that that much difference in velocity would not significantly change the results. Especially, if the stadium is literature here.

‘If it’s a similar ball, hit it without fail.’

And the first ball thrown.

“Ball.”

His first ball was a ball that went too far outside. After all, this is what you see when looking at the liver.

‘Fastball.’

‘And the second ball? Hmm… Since it was shown far outside, it’s worth coming towards the body, right?’

“Ball”

But contrary to my expectations, his second ball was also a ball.

“Aren’t you running away too much? “It’s not fun.”

“…”

‘I guess you really don’t plan on saying a word.’

It didn’t really matter whether Baek Kyung-ho was thinking that way or not, but he was a scratchy guy, so I felt a little sorry for him.

‘Fastball.’

‘Again?’

Three fastballs in a row? Is it really the body this time? He thought of hitting towards the body and waited for the ball from the guy. This ball was also a ball that deviated to the outside. … And at this point, the anxiety I felt before the game seemed to be becoming more and more real.

‘… Hey, are you sure you’re going to skip me when there’s no out count?’

‘It’s a fastball.’

‘… Are the mitts on the outside again this time?’

‘Okay. ‘I guess he’s planning to steal it.’

They filtered me out when the out count wasn’t up at all. Are you crazy? Or is there a way to prevent my stealing? If there was a way to prevent my stealing, it would be a bit dangerous…

While he was thinking about it, his fourth ball hit the mitt. See the results.

“Base on balls.”

“Is my condition bad? It’s stuck four times on the outside? No matter how scared I am, that’s true. This is a bit…”

“… “Aren’t you going to walk?”

“Oh, you’re talking? Do you think you have a cold? “I’m old, so I have to be careful.”

“Huh?”

Baek Kyung-ho suddenly flinched at my words, which made me even more embarrassed. But that embarrassment was short-lived, and with a glance from the umpire, I quietly walked to first base.

‘If you see that they are sending it to the military like this, they must have found a way, right?’

‘Okay. It seems there is a way to stop you.’

‘As expected, since it is a Korean series, it looks like they were idle during the preparation period. But how do you plan to stop it?’

The way I stole bases was simple. Rossby taught the type of pitch and ran at the timing of the breaking ball. There was a reason why the velocity of the breaking ball was slow, but the bigger reason was that if you held the grip of the breaking ball, you could not throw a check. If there was no check, he could fall one step further on base, and the advantage was quite large as an attempt to steal a base could be the difference between success and failure in a split second.

‘Like this!’

“Safe!”

Timing of a breaking ball in a one-strike, one-ball situation. I ran straight to second base and my steal was successful. The stolen base was much easier than I had worried about.

‘Are you really thinking of blocking third base?’

As Choi Jin-cheol was at bat, I wanted to tell him the type of pitch from second base, but right now it was more important to know what the UG guys were thinking.

‘I’ll run to third base.’

‘So.’

If we finished like this without stealing third base, it was clear that we would be dragged around for the entire series.

‘If there was a way to prevent these guys from stealing third base…’

It was clear that it would become difficult throughout the series, so we had to quickly find a way to break it.

‘It’s a curve.’

‘Okay.’

I make up my mind and move away from second base. I haven’t been this nervous about stealing a base since I played baseball with Rossby. But he had to run. And when Webb made the motion to pitch, he started running to third base.

Phut! I heard the sound of the ball hitting the mitt and saw a white base in front of me. Then, slide your upper body toward the base. The feel of the glove after touching the third base.

“Safe!”

“Nice!”

Contrary to what I feared, the result was safe. Looking at the timing of the glove brushing at third base, there didn’t seem to be any difference from the regular season.

‘… But why did you exclude me from the military? Was it really a lack of control?’

He racked his brain, but couldn’t find a good reason. The most likely reason was that it was due to the pressure of the Korean series. Considering his expression and the fact that he was still a first-year mercenary, there was a high probability that he would get a straight walk while trying to throw a better ball against me.

‘Well, I’m fine. This should be the first point.’

Choi Jin-cheol is on third base with no outs. Unless two batters strike out in a row or get an infield fly, one point is guaranteed. As this was the first game between aces, scoring first was more important than ever.

Perfect!

And Choi Jin-cheol, like a veteran who knows the importance of scoring first, hit the bat as much as possible and made an infield ground ball. As soon as I heard the hitting sound, I started running and lightly stepped on the groove to score the first point.

“Senior, it was good.”

“I heard you’re comfortable because you’re quick on your feet. “You, too, were very good.”

“When you saw me, what did you think of that bastard Jegu?”

“You said you were good at throwing at me? Why, what was strange?”

“It was a straight walk. Just in case.”

“Well. I don’t know. Maybe it was something he did to you? Yeonghwan hit the ball like that. Even I would be scared.”

“… “I guess that’s the case.”

Listening to Choi Jin-cheol’s words, it seemed clear that he was just scared of me.

‘Well, I didn’t really think about it, but I was worrying about it myself.’

1:0 with this. It started well. Austin Webb must have come to his senses and ruled out the rest of the batters, but the points already given cannot be undone. We went into the bottom of the second inning with a one-point lead. And thanks to the score I gave up, Crongs blocked it with a three-way strike in the second inning as well.

“[Kronx, that was a good pitch.]”

“[Ho, thanks to you giving up the points. Actually, I missed you so much while you were gone.]”

“[… Huh?]”

“[I missed your baseball so much.]”

‘Fuck, I’m surprised.’

I was a little surprised when the male cub suddenly said he missed me, but he soon calmed his heart.

‘This guy speaks strangely sometimes.’

Even though I knew that I didn’t like men, I couldn’t help being surprised like this sometimes.

“[Huh? Why are you looking at me with those eyes?]”

“[… No. Done. Be careful not to let your shoulders get cold.]”

“[You don’t have to worry. Looking at the state of the batters today, it looks like my turn will come soon.]”

The top of the third inning ended quickly, just as Crongs predicted that the pitcher would recognize the pitcher. Austin Webb also threw out three batters and the bottom of the third inning came quickly.

‘It looks like you were scared and shaken by me, as expected?’

He seemed to have good control of the pitch he was throwing to other batters, and it was almost certain that he was scared of me. As expected, it seems that the knocking at the last meeting had an effect. Is it a learned fear?

“What are you smiling like? “Aren’t you ready for defense?”

“Yes, I’m going.”

Austin Webb was one of the few pitchers in the KBA who pitched quite well. Although he couldn’t help but laugh because he was happy that he had inflicted such trauma on a pitcher of Webb’s caliber, he quickly wiped his laughter away to go on defense. In this type of pitching game, every mistake was fatal.

‘Okay, let’s just leave it like this for today.’