Chapter 512 – Episode 504. First Watershed? (2)

“Hyeonseong!”

“Yes. “Senior.”

“Hyun, how did you hit the ball? “Today wasn’t a joke.”

The only person to reach base against Seong Hyeon until the third inning was Kim Hyun Seong, who had just hit a double. The seniors were curious about how Hyunseong hit Seonghyun’s ball and asked questions to Hyunseong, who was wearing catcher’s gear. I also listened to what Hyeonseong said, wondering how he hit Seonghyeon’s ball. Today’s Seonghyun, I feel, is a control artist himself.

If Hyunseong had the secret to hitting a double, it seemed like he would be able to play today’s game easily. Still, since he has been the starting catcher this season and has received a lot of pitches from pitchers, he may have noticed something.

“I just turned it around, and it came out right?”

“There’s nothing you’re aiming for, right?”

“Hey, how can I hit the ball, Seonghyun sunbaenim, even though I’m aiming for it? “I just thought I’d get one, and I got lucky.”

‘Fuck, that’s right.’

The guy catching the ball was just spinning the bat, but somehow he missed a pitch and got caught. As soon as I heard what he said, the first thought that came to mind was that it was such a shame that he got caught in a blind fight. If I caught it, I would have passed it on right away…

‘If this is the case, we’ll have to bet late in the game, right?’

Sung-Hyun is showing his peak performance of 20 wins as his strike zone has expanded, but if he has one weakness, it is his age. He was at an age where his stamina and grip strength were bound to have problems, and as evidence of that, Seong-hyun’s ability to handle innings this season was not that good. Of course, because he was so good at managing the game, he played at least 6 innings in each game.

“Ruler. He couldn’t keep up in this inning, but let’s focus on defense. There are still many games left.”

As senior Jincheol said, Hwasan was behind 1-0 with one run in the bottom of the second inning, but there was still a lot of game left. Today’s starting pitcher, Jang Yoon, also gave up 1 run, but he seemed to be in good condition. This match was worth playing.

“Strike! Out!”

“Out!”

“Out!”

And then the bottom of the third inning began. Jang Yoon safely finished the bottom of the third inning with a strikeout and two outfield flies.

‘As expected, the condition certainly looks good.’

Although the two outfield flies were regular hits, Jang Yoon was a pitcher who caught the ball with outfield fly balls like this when he was in good condition, so there was nothing to worry about.

‘If this is the case, I need to catch today’s game as much as possible…’

Of the three starters predicted by Hwasan in this series, Seonghyun was the most difficult pitcher to deal with. However, considering the starting matchup, it was also true that today was the most likely day for Jang Yoon to appear. Since Jang Yoon moved to free agency, he has been a domestic ace with an ERA in the 3-point range and over 10 wins every time.

Not a starter that dominates the league, but a solid starter. Park Jun-hyung, a fellow 10-win pitcher, honestly couldn’t be said to have not received help from the batting lineup, and since Jun-hoo was the 5th starter to begin with, he didn’t have many expectations, so he had to take today’s game, which had the highest potential.

‘To catch such a saint…’

“Meng Hao. What are you doing? “You know you’re the leader, right?”

“Yes. So I was thinking about it.”

Before going to bat, what I was thinking about was the direction of the at bat. Honestly, looking at Seonghyun’s condition today, it didn’t seem easy for me to step up to the plate with runners on base. Obviously, a pitcher with Seong-Hyeon’s game management skills would not want to create such a situation.

If there were runners on base, it was natural to aim for a home run, but there were two things I could do in this situation. Either aim for a solo home run, or aim to get on base, steal all the way to third base, and somehow score one run.

‘First, before I lose strength, I should aim for a walk, and when I do, I should aim for a home run.’

“Then I will come back.”

“You know that when you come, you have to step on the groove, right?”

“Of course.”

To be honest, looking at Seonghyun’s condition today, I wasn’t confident that he would come back home, but it was clear that if I, the center of the batting lineup, showed off like that, the players’ morale would be broken, so I answered confidently and left the dugout.

“Popple, welcome back.”

“Popple?”

“You hit a catcher’s fly. So, it’s Popple.”

“Next time at bat, please call it a home run. “I’m going to hit a home run this at-bat.”

In a conversation with Lee Yong-gi, he laid the groundwork by saying that he would first aim for a home run. Of course, I don’t know if Lee Yong-gi, a veteran catcher, will believe it, but he would have liked to have laid even a small paving stone. However, I felt like it would be too obvious to hit a pre-emptive home run, so this was my best…

‘It’s a first-pitch slider.’

‘Sliders? Isn’t it a cutter?’

‘Yes, slider.’

Seonghyun, who has a low slider command, throws a slider here. Perhaps Lee Yong-gi had inferred from the previous conversation that I was aiming for a walk.

‘Then the probability of throwing it toward the body is high, right?’

If he hadn’t known the type of pitch, he would have been stuck. Rather, because Lee Yong-gi read my thoughts, he had the opportunity to take a shot at me.

‘Come!’

Then Seonghyeon’s right leg rose, and the ball was thrown from Seonghyeon’s hand.

‘Body side… !’

I tried to lower the bat on a trajectory toward the center. If the slider thrown by the left pitcher feels like it is coming to the center when it leaves the hand, it is definitely towards the body. But…

“Ball.”

‘Wow, fuck. I fell here.’

Seonghyun’s slider landed about two spots lower than the strike zone, and I was able to resist the bat, which had a lower trajectory than expected and went close to home plate. If Seonghyeon’s slider had been a little faster, he would have been unable to hold back and swung it. Isn’t it a good thing that it’s not a high-speed slider that exceeds 140?

At that time, I saw the corners of Seonghyun’s mouth slightly raise and quickly disappear.

‘What? Did you drop it in the middle of it because you thought I was going to swing it?’

I didn’t know the truth, but for some reason, it seemed like it would be Seonghyun. No, I thought that Seonghyeon, the best Korean pitcher of all time, would definitely have done that.

‘Two-seam.’

If it’s a two-seamer, from my perspective, the trajectory flows outward. A trajectory that can feel like it’s coming towards the body and stick into the zone, or it can feel like it’s coming into the outside zone and then fall outside the zone. So, I waited for Seonghyun’s ball with the thought that I would swing if it came toward my body and filter it if it came outward.

“Ball.”

And as I expected, the bat was held back when the ball went outside, and the umpire’s hand did not go up when the ball went slightly beyond the borderline. To be honest, if I had caught this, I would have kicked the referee in the game or something.

“Wow, can you put up with this? I’m really going crazy, Maeng Hao. “Aren’t you going to hit a home run today?”

“I’m aiming for you, so shut up.”

“Haha, I told my brother to go astray. “You’re really in a hurry?”

‘… Should I blow away the thrush first, Yonggi?’

I felt like punching the obnoxious Yonggi brother, but I held back and waited for Seonghyun’s next ball.

“Ball.”

“Base on balls.”

But the balls kept coming in as if they had no intention of giving me a good ball. I was able to get a walk in my second at-bat today. I was a little upset, but did it go as planned?

‘Good. If you do this, you can run all the way to third base. You can stop at second base and tell me the pitch. Mr. Rossby. Please let me know if you get a curveball.’

After preparing, I waited for a while.

‘It’s two-minded.’

‘Okay, take a break for now.’

Perfect!

Seong-Hyun’s fastball hit the low area of ​​Ki Ki-Ju’s body, and as Ki Ki-Ju touched the ball, the fast ball headed toward the second baseman. I did my best to run toward second base, but a person can’t be faster than the ball.

“Out!”

“Out!”

‘Oh, fuck Amy. A double play on the first pitch… !’

However, it was a ball that was so appetizing that it wasn’t something I couldn’t understand. From the meteorologist’s perspective, it was a ball that could not be missed. However, the zone was widened and Seonghyun was a pitcher who utilized the zone 100%.

“… “I’m sorry.”

“No. Senior. “If it were me, I would have hit him.”

If Ki Ki-joo, the batsman behind me, dug deeper here, I couldn’t guarantee even one point in today’s game, so I quickly comforted him, who was showing his apologies with all his body.

“Under…”

“Honestly, it might be because the zone is so wide today. But I realized one thing.”

But the good news is, did I realize one thing through this inning?

“… “What is it?”

“Do you feel like if I go to first base with a walk, they will definitely throw a fastball to prevent me from running and induce a double play?”

For some reason, after the first two pitches, I felt like a straight walk would easily give us first base, which was Battery’s plan. The plan is to prevent me from running and induce a ground ball to create a double play.

“So, when you go to first base, just aim for fastballs.”

“But I still have two seamers and four seamers.”

“Anyone who is a resident senior can do it. “I do well against other pitchers.”

“… Okay, I’ll try.”

‘… But, I don’t know if I’ll get another chance today.’

So, swallowing my words, I followed Ki Ki-ju into the dugout.

*

[Seonghyun pitches perfectly in the top of the 4th inning, facing only three batters!]

[This is Seonghyeon’s game management ability. He was a famous pitcher in the major leagues as a groundbreaker.]

[No. 4, No. 5, No. 6. Jang Yoon perfectly blocks the central batting lineup!]

[Hey. As expected, it is a matchup between the league’s leading left-handed pitchers, so it is quite intense, right?]

[Seonghyun goes down after ending the inning with a three-way throw! 5 innings without a run! It’s Seonghyun again today! … Here, Kim Joo-yeop hits a timely hit with one RBI, bringing the score to 2:0! We run away with a 2-point lead.]

[Oh, this score is big?]

[In the top of the 6th inning, the leadoff hitter was No. 8 hitter Kim Hyeon-seong, who had hit a double in his previous at-bat. … You hit it! Another hit to left-center! Kim Hyun-seong all the way to second base! I can’t go! Stop at first base! Kim Hyun-seong, who became the starting catcher this season, hits a hit in two consecutive at-bats against Seong-hyun!]

[It looks like Kim Hyun-seong’s timing was pretty good against Seong-hyeon, right? In fact, Kim Hyun-seong is a player who feels a bit restless in AT’s batting lineup, but he is also a talented batting player, right? That’s why he took over as the starting catcher even though he’s only in his third year.]

[… Strike out! One out! … Jeong Hwi-cheol’s batted ball is slow toward the shortstop! The shortstop looks at second base and safely throws to first base. Two out. And this is the player who comes to bat with two outs. This is Ji Maeng-ho. Today’s record is 1 hit, no hits, and one walk. … There is an intentional phrase here.]

[Two outs. Runner on second base. There is no need to deal with Ji Maeng-ho when first base is empty, right? In fact, a pitcher as good as Seong-hyeon could have built up his pride and faced Ji Maeng-ho, but Seong-hyeon is not doing that at all, right? As expected, he is a cold-hearted Seonghyeon.]

[Ji Maeng-ho walks to first base. Haha, the dissatisfied expression is clearly visible on your face.]

[Because this is a game.]

[… Weather warning, the batting ball is flying high! A ball that goes far! But the center fielder catches it in front of the warning track. Three out. Seonghyun shows off a quality start through 6 scoreless innings. … Jang Yoon, who gave up 2 runs in 6 innings and also showed a quality start, leaves the mound. The number of pitches for Jang Yoon is 98. I think that’s probably the end of it, right?]

[Yes. Now it will be a battle between the two teams’ bullpens. Since Seonghyun still has room to pitch, he will likely pitch until the 7th inning. If he can manage the pitch count in the 7th inning, he will likely aim for the 8th inning as well.]

[… Seonghyeon comes down from the mound after showing scoreless pitching until the 8th inning. He responds by taking off his hat to the cheers of the home fans. Seonghyun shows off his dominant starting pitching against AT once again and comes down from the mound!]

[Today, Ji Maeng-ho was in the batting lineup, and it is significant that he pitched 8 scoreless innings.]

[… In the top of the 9th inning, leadoff hitter Ji Maeng-ho comes in. Ji Maeng-ho takes on Shin Soo-ho, the finisher of the volcano.]

[After Ko Young-hwan, the match between Shin Soo-ho, the leading finisher in the league, and Ji Maeng-ho, who dominated the KBA league. This match will be fun too.]

*

‘Fuck. Even if you hit a home run, you get 1 point.’

To be honest, I didn’t want to make an excuse, but the referee’s tone today was a little too much. Although Seonghyun’s control of hitting every corner of the zone was amazing, it wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t held it wide in the first place…

Still, there is still one inning left. Although the back hitters, Gi Ki-ju, Choi Jin-cheol, and Williams, were tightly tied to Seong-hyeon today, they were still hitters who could always give up 2 to 3 runs in an inning.

And for that to happen, I, the first hitter, was more important than ever. My performance against Shin Su-ho this season was one double and one walk in one at-bat. A high-speed slider with a velocity in the mid-150s and a slightly small angle in the mid-to-late 140s. And even the changeup, an off-speed pitch that I think I learned from Seonghyun. Although he is a difficult pitcher for other hitters to face, he was a good match for me.

The fastball and high-speed slider were pitches that could be hit at the same time due to the small difference in velocity, and the changeup was not difficult to hit as long as you knew how to hit it.

The pitcher knew that too, so he started picking his balls carefully,

“Ball.”

“Ball.”

The ball came in twice in a row. And the third ball.

‘It’s a slider.’

‘Okay.’

He chose a slider, and I swung the bat at the ball without delay.

Ta – Aak!

‘Fuck. Why is the home run hitting now? Ah, if only one player had been on base in the previous inning, we could have faced a weakened Seonghyun… !’

The batted ball quickly disappeared towards the left-center wall, but he was annoyed that he could not show such a batted ball against Seonghyun, so he threw the bat and began to circle the diamond in silence.

“Nice!”

“1 point! Let’s chase after one point!”

The dugout begins to boil with the will to turn the tables after the leadoff hitter hits a home run. And the batters who gained momentum with my home run pressured Shin Su-ho until the bases were loaded with two outs, but in the end, the game ended without scoring one more run.

‘Fuck. I really won’t lose next time.’

So the first game of the third series against Hwasan ended in defeat, tied tightly to Seonghyun.