Chapter 310 – Episode 308. The Thread of the Gap. (3)

‘The meeting location is closer than usual, right?’

‘Yes.’

‘Is it right to skip it when we only have one company?’

‘That’s right. I heard it.’

Just before going to bat, Rossby was standing on the mound, and it seemed like he even heard what was being said there.

‘It’s absurd that an intentional throw is made with the bases loaded.’

‘Well, it’s not like it doesn’t happen.’

I’ve only heard of it, but it was my first time in a situation like this, so I was shocked, but I had some expectations, so I quickly checked the defensive position. The outfielders shifted to the left, just like they usually do against me, and first baseman Koo Jin-mo was watching my at-bat with his arms crossed.

‘If Gu Jin-mo is in that state, his concentration must be scattered, right?’

It was inevitable that he would only receive walks throughout the series, so it was natural for the fielders to lose their concentration during my at-bat.

‘If you send it that way, it will definitely not hit!’

And the first pitch thrown,

‘It has arrived!’

He extended his arm in line with the trajectory of the pitch going out and succeeded in hitting the ball with the tip of the bat.

Dang!

Perhaps because of the loss of balance, the hitting sound is different from the usual hitting sound. But the course was good.

“Uh? Oh!”

Koo Jin-mo, who had his arms crossed, tried to jump and catch the ball, but the flying ball hit Koo Jin-mo’s glove and started rolling along the line. In the meantime, I stepped on first base and ran to second base.

-Wow!!!!

-Ji Maeng-ho! Ji Maengho! Ji Maengho!

‘What about runners?’

‘First, one person went in. The runner on second base is running all the way to home.’

Third base runner Kim Joo-yeop seemed to have already reached home, and second base runner Kim Su-ho seemed to be running all the way to home. As he was running through the second rule, he glanced towards right field, and it seemed like he was still far away from catching the ball.

‘If that’s enough… ?’

The third base coach must have thought the same thing as me, so he sent a sign to Ki Ki-joo, who was the runner on first base, to keep running, and I took the signal and ran to third base.

-Wow!!

-Run! Run!

The cheers were heard once again, and it seemed like even the runner on second base had entered the home range. 2 points for this. I slid to third base without having time to check the position of the ball, but I couldn’t feel my glove.

‘It’s a home game!’

I quickly got up and looked at Home. Baek Kyung-ho is holding his stance and Ki Ki-joo is sliding into the groove. And the ball, which was relayed to home, goes into Baek Kyung-ho’s mitt. Then, Ki Ki-joo and Baek Kyung-ho collided, and the two players fell to the ground at home plate.

‘Please, please!’

I looked at the home with eagerness, but Baek Kyung-ho lifted his mitt and showed me the ball in his mitt.

“… Out!”

The referee declared out after some time lag.

-Wow!!!

This time, unlike before, shouts are heard from third base.

‘Ha, fuck.’

Although the weather forecast was slow, it can only be said that Choi Jae-hyun’s defense was very good. In such a situation, with little hope, director Lee Soo-hyun requested a video review.

“Meng Hao! How did you hit it?! Did they decide to win with the bases loaded?”

Meanwhile, the third base coach, very excited, spoke to me. The third base coach seemed very happy with my timely hit after a long time.

“Well? “It was closer than usual, but I don’t know if I meant to skip it.”

I wanted to answer the coach’s question truthfully, but since the third baseman was listening, I just vaguely asked Rossby if there was a possibility that the decision would be overturned.

‘What do you think of Mr. Rossby?’

‘If it’s that timing, you’re out.’

‘… ‘I guess so, right?’

Because the distance from first base to home was quite long, it was difficult for a big man like Ki Ki-joo to get into home, and the umpire declared the game out not long after putting on a headset to read the video.

-Choi Jae-hyun! Jaehyun Choi! Jaehyun Choi!

There was nothing more unpleasant to hear than the name call of an opposing player in Jamsil, but Choi Jae-hyeon’s defense was that great.

‘How did they run all the way there and throw the throw all at once? Still, does this give me 2 points?’

A triple, one out count, and two RBIs. The results weren’t that bad.

‘Looking at Junhyung’s form today, it looks like he’ll give us a quality start, but I wish he could get just one more point…’

Now at the plate is Choi Jin-cheol. And as Seok-Kyun Lee leaves the mound, a new pitcher comes up.

-Yoon Jung-hwan! Unjunghwan! Yoon Jung-hwan!

And UG fans began chanting the name of the changed pitcher.

‘That bastard here. Can senior Jincheol hit?’

Although the debt was repaid, it was true that Yoon Jung-hwan’s ball was difficult to hit, so this match looked quite difficult. The Korean Series matchup between Choi Jin-cheol and Yoon Jung-hwan was not good, with 2 at-bats and no hits. It was difficult to score because the out count was full.

‘Please, senior Jincheol!’

Yoon Jung-hwan’s first pitch thrown along with my prayers for Choi Jin-cheol.

Perfect!

Choi Jin-cheol swung the bat, aiming for the first pitch. Since it was two outs, Jamsil started to shout once again while running home without even looking at the batted ball. And the epicenter of the sound was toward first base.

-Wow!!

– Choi Jin-cheol! Choi Jin-cheol! Choi Jin-cheol!

‘Fuck! This is it!’

Choi Jin-cheol succeeded in targeting the first pitch of the changed pitcher. Choi Jin-cheol’s batted ball passed between the third baseman and Yoo Geuk-soo and succeeded in hitting the home plate before the left fielder could catch the ball.

“Good!”

“You know one shot too, right?”

“Please wait.”

After giving a high five to standby hitter Yoon Seong-tae and entering the dugout, my teammates began to warmly welcome me.

“Meng Hao! “It was a good triple!”

“Ji Maeng-ho! “I believed it!”

It’s been a while since I felt the affectionate beating from my teammates. I didn’t get hit during the Korean Series, so I felt good even though I got hit on my helmet for the first time in a long time.

“Meng Hao, come on, you worked hard to get to third base. Drink some of this.”

“Thank you.”

‘Wow, this is baseball after all.’

The drink I drank after stepping on the groove was always sweet.

Perfect!

At that time, I quickly looked back at the ground when the sound of the ball struck again.

“Out!”

‘Fuck, I thought it would be easy. Yes, this is baseball.’

Our offense ended in the bottom of the 5th inning when Yoon Seong-tae touched Yoon Jung-hwan’s first pitch and grounded out to second base. Although it was disappointing, it was a very satisfying inning because we turned the tables and the score increased to 3 points.

‘Hehe, I’m glad it was thrown as close as expected. The practice wasn’t in vain.’

‘I’m glad it’s within reach of the bat. But you know that an opportunity like this will never come again, right?’

‘Probably so, right?’

As Rossby said, I had a feeling that an opportunity like this would never come again. Although the pitcher was distracted and took advantage of the gap to score, this was the last game in Jamsil, and it was clear that after hitting a triple like this, they would be more thorough in walking the ball.

‘There is no guarantee that an opportunity like this will come again. ‘I must catch today’s game.’

“Okay then, it’s cleaning time so let’s gather for a moment!”

When I was determined to win today’s game, coach Lee Soo-hyun called the team together.

“Yes!”

“Let’s win today’s game and move on to literature. If it’s literature, you can get through it without Meng Hao, right? Are you all confident?”

“Of course!”

“Junhyung is also throwing well, and I feel good today. Are you feeling it all? The atmosphere has passed. Let’s move on to literature in this mood. Okay?”

“I understand!”

“You know that if you just win today, winning really isn’t a dream, right? I believe everyone feels the same way as me. Then, invincible!”

“AT!”

Immediately after the meeting ended while shouting team slogans, starting pitcher Park Jun-hyung, who had been pitching well until the fifth inning, allowing two runs, approached me.

“Meng Hao.”

“Yes?”

“Please do that.”

“Yes? What is that all of a sudden?”

“You know what we did during the semi-playoffs.”

“Oh, cumming?”

He suddenly came up to me and asked me to do it, so I thought he was saying something out of the blue, but it seemed like he wanted to take my energy. It was a bit disgusting to see him ask a man to hit him, but since I’ve seen many baseball players with various jinxes, I gave Park Jun-hyung a slap on the cheek as he wanted.

Mate!

“Evil! Fuck, it fucking hurts.”

“He said he wanted me to hit him. Okay, let’s have a good time with this today.”

“Okay, hehe, come to your senses and let’s go.”

‘I threw well after being slapped that time too, so I hope it happens this time as well.’

I prayed that Park Jun-hyung would not give up any more runs and grabbed my glove to play defense in the top of the 6th inning.

*

[This batted ball flies high, three out! Park Jin-hyuk protects AT’s victory! 6:3! Game over!]

[In the end, AT balances the series in Jamsil. In today’s game, AT’s starting pitcher Park Jun-hyung pitched well, allowing 3 runs in 6.1 innings, and the game ended with Ji Maeng-ho’s 2 RBI hit in the bottom of the 5th inning becoming the winning hit.]

[Then, there is an interview scheduled with today’s MVP Ji Maeng-ho, so please watch until the end.]

The fierce Game 4 of the Korean Series ended with Ji Maeng-ho’s 2-RBI triple becoming the winning hit. It was a valuable victory for the AT Thunders as it was achieved before heading to Munhak, where games 5, 6, and 7 were held. With that victory, the community started to get excited again.

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ You skipped it so much that you ended up getting beaten up and losing, right?

ㄴㅇㅅㅁㅎㅅ

ㄴㅇㅅㅁㅎㅅ

-You can’t skip it with the bases loaded, right? LOL

ㄴNo matter how scared you are of the fierce tiger god, that’s a bit haha

-But it’s unfortunate. I wanted to see him skip even with the bases loaded haha

I don’t know if he skipped it, but he seemed to have tried to make the game as difficult as possible. If you look at Ji Maeng-ho’s final hit, it looks like he was on the outside.

-Hmm… But seeing as Ji Maeng-ho hit in the end, doesn’t it mean that Moon Ki-taek got hit?

ㄴㄹㅇ Push that ball.

ㄴBut Choi Jin-cheol is also a hit anyway

-ㅅㅂ You should give Yoon Joong-hwan a match. Are you going to push Lee Seok-gyun there?

ㄴI think Lee Seok-gyun is stubborn, but they say a pitcher as good as Lee Seok-gyun pitches, so how do they replace him? Even if I were the director, I would have trusted him.

ㄴㄴBut if you think it’s too strong, you should change it right away.

-But there is definitely a reason to skip Ji Maeng-ho. Hitting a triple there, it must have been bad because I kept hitting it, but it’s amazing.

No matter what, he is a .400 hitter.

ㄴI also criticized Moon Ki-taek, but after watching this game, I understand why I skipped it. I definitely remember being stronger in terms of scoring during the season,

ㄴJi Maeng-ho’s WPA (Win Probability Contribution) this season was 14.2, so it is true that he was strong in scoring.

-Choo-taek is re-evaluating haha. As soon as he enters the match, he gets punished right away, right?

However, unlike before, many fans responded that they understood Moon Ki-taek. This is because Ji Maeng-ho’s performance in just one opportunity was quite impressive. And then Ji Maeng-ho’s interview began.

“Ji Maeng-ho! Throughout the Korean Series, UG has been excluding Ji Maeng-ho. What do you think about this?”

“I understand. Actually, how can you stop me? Haha. If you’re scared, you should run away. It’s a bit hard to say this, but what can I do if UG level is only that good? I have to understand.”

Ji Maeng-ho’s interview seemed to completely look down on the opposing team, the UG Overlords. Ji Maeng-ho, who was always arrogant and controversial with UG’s fans, and baseball, who hated AT, which was being vicious in various communities for advancing to fall baseball for the first time in 21 years. The combined public opinion of fans had the effect of increasing public opinion supporting Moon Ki-taek and UG.

However, the interview was not necessarily good news for Moon Ki-taek.

“Director, I can’t do this anymore.”

Several players, including Koo Jin-mo, who had a negative view of this strategy from the beginning, came to the coach’s office after seeing Ji Maeng-ho’s interview.