Chapter 493 – Episode 485. Cycling. (2)

The scene where Choi Jae-hyun takes flight slows down, as if in slow motion. The batted ball gradually sank to the ground, and Choi Jae-hyeon’s glove flew up…

-Wow!!!!

… I couldn’t reach it!

‘Run!’

‘It’s still running!’

The hit ball, which was hit incorrectly and was quite fast, passes by Choi Jae-hyun’s glove and rolls away. Since I had already started accelerating, it was easy to get to second base, and I ran all the way to third base.

‘Mr. Rossby, what about the cover?’

‘Gotcha. ‘Keep running!’

“Stop! Stop!”

Behind the third base, the third base coach is trying to stop me with his palms open. But the third base coach’s opinion wasn’t important right now.

‘Keep going?!’

‘Run! ‘You bastard!’

Rossby’s decision was to run all the way home. Without any doubt, I stepped on third base and raced toward home without slowing down the acceleration.

‘Kurt!’

Now the distance to home is only 4~5 m! After running one or two more steps,

‘Sliding!’

Following Rossby’s words, I slid into the groove. The first feeling I felt after writing the white home plate with my palm was,

‘Ah, my fucking dick hurts.’

It was a slight pain felt in the lower part of the body that had been rubbed by the dirt. And the feeling of the catcher’s mitt hitting my back. If the difference is this much, no matter how blind you are, you can’t make a mistake…

“Safe!”

The referee’s voice is heard after waiting for a moment. Well, of course it was three leaves.

-Wow!!!!

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

“Hey, what are you doing when you’re not up?”

“Oh my. I ran like this, gasp, gasp. Let’s get some rest.”

“Wake up. “The kids are waiting in the dugout.”

At the end of the weather warning, I woke up holding the weather warning hand. As I stand up, I can see at a glance the fans who are standing upright and cheering for me. For those fans, I grabbed the chest of the uniform and tapped the logo, and the cheers got louder.

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

‘Wow, this is baseball after all.’

After raising my fist and responding to the cheers of the fans, I entered the dugout to find my teammates waiting for me with smiling faces.

“What, this much?”

“Meng Hao! It was good!”

“As expected, Ji Maeng-ho! “I believed it!”

“Wow, I knew you were crazy when I ran all the way to your home.”

After giving a high five and sitting down, someone approached me with a drink.

“Thank you, Meng Hao.”

The person responsible for that touch was Park Jun-hyung, who had the energy of a losing pitcher.

“Ah, bro. Thank you. Brother, just eat until the 5th inning today. “I will make you a winning pitcher.”

“Okay, I’ll hold on.”

A voice without confidence… Park Jun-hyung’s voice made me sigh.

“Brother, how can you even slap me on the face? “I don’t think I can come to my senses.”

“Well, is that so?”

“But there’s no point in hitting me now, and I’ll hit you hard a little later when we’re cornered.”

“… Huh? Harder?”

“You don’t know if your eardrum ruptures? “Did your brother ask for it?”

“Uh, uh… During a crisis. During a crisis.”

Now I can finally see the expression on his face.

However, despite Park Jun-hyung’s expression getting better, Ki Ki-joo returned to the dugout unable to maintain the good mood. And since the opposing starting pitcher was a left-handed hitter, Choi Jin-cheol, who pitched as number 4, also struck out.

‘Well, it’s actually better. Because the main character today is me.’

“Okay then, since we’ve tied the score, let’s play good defense!”

*

[… Out! … Strike! Out! … Out! Park Jun-hyung ends the third inning with his first three-way error in today’s game!]

[I think Ji Maeng-ho’s game-tying home run helped stabilize my mentality, right? It was a completely different pitch than before.]

[At the top of the 4th inning, AT’s attack. We start with Williams, the number 5 hitter. … Out! Number 6 hitter Kim Su-ho. … This batted ball! Caught! This time, Choi Jae-hyun succeeded in stealing Kim Su-ho’s hit with a fantastic diving catch! Help the pitcher!]

[Choi Jae-hyeon is a very good defender… In fact, it was Choi Jae-hyun who gave up a ground home run to Ji Maeng-ho in the last inning, so it was a defense that could challenge?]

[That’s right. It was very close, right?]

[Honestly, I think it was a good attempt. Anyway, if Ji Maeng-ho got on base, whether it was a hit or a double, it was certain that Ji Maeng-ho would get to third base, and since there was one out, one run could have been scored somehow.]

[Yes. Considering Ji Maeng-ho’s ability to steal bases, putting Ji Maeng-ho on base was practically the same as giving him a triple, right?]

[You’re right. Choi Jae-hyun must have been in a lot of pain as he allowed a ground home run, but this time he was able to steal Kim Su-ho’s hit. If he hadn’t caught it he could have doubled… Still, it’s great to see Choi Jae-hyeon continuing this challenge even after giving up points.]

[Now the 7th batter, Kim Hyun-seong, comes to bat. … I miss it! Swing strike! Out! This time, Lee Seok-gyun catches the out count without any help from the defense! It’s a three-way inning!]

[I think he was put in the batting order because he’s a right-handed hitter, but isn’t this lackluster swing quite unfortunate?]

[The score is tied 3:3. Now the situation continues with UG’s attack in the bottom of the 4th inning.]

With the score tied at 3:3, the pitcher who came on the mound for AT was, of course, starting pitcher Park Jun-hyung. Park Jun-hyung was showing difficult pitching, facing 16 batters until the third inning, but Park Jun-hyung’s spirit was sharper than ever.

‘You have to come to your senses. If you get hit by that bastard, your eardrums could explode.’

Shocking words I heard when I went to thank Maeng Ho for hitting a home run. When he looked into the guy’s eyes, he felt like he was going to hit the guy with all his might, so he couldn’t let down his guard even for a moment. Of course, he was a senior, but considering Meng Hao’s personality from what he had seen so far, he didn’t think he could stop the guy from hitting him even if he refused.

In that case, the only way to do it is to prevent the situation where the guy is trying to hit his ass in the first place.

“Strike!”

[Oh, 149 km/h. Today’s fastest ball was hit in the zone?]

[Park Jun-hyung is pitching as if he was pitching with all his might in the Korean Series. I think this means that we will definitely block it until 5 innings, right?]

Since he did not want to receive the ‘energy of victory’ from Meng Hao, Park Jun-hyung threw the ball with all his might,

[Park Jun-hyung allowed one batter to get on base, but allowed no runs this inning!]

Park Jun-hyung, who was shaken at the beginning of the game, was no longer there. AT’s attack came again in such a good atmosphere.

[In the top of the 5th inning, the leadoff batter is 8th batter Yoon Seong-tae. He struck out in his previous at-bat. … Strike out! Lee Seok-gyun still shows his good side! Today’s number 9 batter, Woo Kwan-hyung, is now at the plate.]

[Woo Gwan-hyung is said to have been contemplating retirement after winning last year’s championship and receiving the MVP award, but thanks to Coach Lee Soo-hyun’s dissuasion, he was able to see himself as a pinch hitter until this season, right? It is said that this season, he will mainly appear as a pinch hitter or as a starter 1–2 times a week to ensure the physical strength of the outfielders.]

[The previous at-bat record was a ground ball to second base. In this at-bat…, The moment I tell you! Woo Kwan-hyung’s first pitch hit! This hit goes just over the shortstop. Woo Kwan-hyung gets on base with one out!]

[This is Woo Kwan-hyung’s skill, right? He pushes really sensuously and creates a hit.]

[Now, Baek Jeong-jin is at bat. He recorded a hit in his first at-bat.]

[Baek Jeong-jin’s hitting timing is good today, right? It’s worth looking forward to.]

[The first pitch is a strike. … Foul! … Foul! … Foul! … Cheek. … Strike! This batted ball lands in front of right field! AT Thunders have a chance with 1 out and 1st and 2nd bases! And in that situation, Ji Maeng-ho, the hitter you never want to meet, comes to bat. Ji Maeng-ho hit a two-run home run in his first at bat and a ground home run in his second at bat. What kind of performance will he show in this at-bat? .]

*

‘Sweet, I have to hit it.’

Just before going to bat, he hit two home runs, but he couldn’t help but feel anxious. Of course, he wasn’t worried that he wouldn’t be able to hit the ball. What makes me anxious is that this situation may be filtering me out. With one out and 1st and 2nd bases, I am the batter. And the next batter is Ki-joo Ki, a left-handed batter. I was anxious because it was a good situation to use the bases loaded strategy without me.

‘Phew, but it’s not an intentional phrase.’

Therefore, I could not help but breathe a sigh of relief when I did not receive a signal to walk to first base as soon as I went to bat. Still, it is too early to feel reassured. Those guys will skip me as soon as the ball count gets low.

‘You mean we have to win as quickly as possible, right?’

In other words, I had to win the game as quickly as possible before the count ran out.

‘Fastball.’

Rossby told me that his first pitch was a fastball. If you were me, what kind of ball would you throw in this situation? If you think about it for a moment, it was obvious. In this case, the pitches the pitchers throw are low, outside balls that are not easy to hit a home run. Also, one or two balls fall out.

There were many situations like this last year as well. Especially after going to the Olympics. If first base was empty, it would be easy to give an intentional throw, but now that first base is occupied, it is a bit disappointing to throw an intentional throw.

In such a situation, the strategy used by the opposing team was obvious. This is a strategy where you pull outward as much as possible, check the seasoning, and if the ball count becomes unfavorable, skip it. In a way, throwing a fastball that went out in this situation was like a textbook for dealing with me.

Actually, I had a lot of swings and misses at that type of ball. Some people criticized me for swinging and missing at ridiculous pitches, but I made the best choice to instill in the pitcher the will to compete in my own way.

And UG will also have power analysts. It was clear that he knew that I miss a lot on balls like that. That’s my intention, anyway, the record will say that I miss a lot on fastballs that go outside.

‘Should I hit it? Write it. After all, it must be a wife, right? Even if you can’t hit it, let’s at least make a missed swing, so you don’t miss it.’

And the guy’s ball was thrown. I checked his outward trajectory and swung the bat coolly.

… And I couldn’t feel anything in the hand holding the bat.