Chapter 526 – Episode 518. Friend. (2)

“Out!”

“Strike! Out!”

“Out!”

“Good! Crongs is in good condition today! Since Maeng Ho is at bat in the 4th inning, let’s score 1 more run!”

At the end of the third inning, the score was still 1:0. Even after I hit the home run, the game was shaping up to be a tight pitching battle.

In three innings, Crongs allowed only one batter to get on base. And Wonho put only two batters on base, including myself. This at-bat was also important because if things continued like this, all the spotlight would be on the pitchers.

“[Williams!]”

“[Yes, yes! Did you call me?]”

“[Fill the runner.]”

“[Oh, I understand.]”

In this situation, 3 RBIs are enough to steal the spotlight. After ordering Williams, the leadoff hitter, to get on base, I picked up the bat and headed to the waiting box.

“Strike!”

‘As expected, I am full of thoughts of getting out.’

Wonho’s first pitch against Williams is a splitter aimed at the low zone. The current best hitter on our team, excluding me, was Williams, and seeing him hit the first pitch into the zone against Williams, it seemed like Wonho’s mind was full of thoughts about facing me with one out.

Perfect!

And Williams is a hitter who can fully exploit such loopholes. Williams’ batted ball floated lightly and passed over the shortstop’s glove. A hit in front of left fielder.

‘Okay, if you do this, you’re on first base safely.’

It’s still early in the 4th inning, but it’s enough to put a dent in a tight pitching battle. I went into the batter’s box swinging the bat as usual.

‘Oh, the bat is a little light?’

As expected, I felt like I was in pretty good shape today. The weight of the bat I was swinging as I came to bat felt quite light. Moreover, when I hit a home run earlier, there was a slight sound, but I also pushed the ball over the fence with force.

‘Kim Won-ho, this bastard is behind me.’

The pitch that hit Williams earlier was a two-seamer that hit the outside zone. Since I was hit while repeatedly hitting Williams in the strike zone, there was a high chance that the first pitch against me would go out of the zone.

‘It’s a splitter.’

‘As expected.’

As I expected, the first pitch Wonho chose was a breaking ball. Psychologically, I had no choice but to throw the ball, so I decided to wait.

“Ball.”

And Wonho’s first pitch fell down as expected.

“I think Wonho was very scared. “I’m scared, so I can’t throw it into the zone.”

“Shut up.”

“Shouldn’t we go up and take a look? “I feel mentally shaken.”

“I told you to shut up.”

Of course, there was no sign of mental shakiness. However, I had no intention of resting my mouth because I wanted the battery to shake even a little.

“Ball.”

‘Oh, you think you want me to throw it into the zone? He didn’t throw it into the zone again.’

And the catcher, perhaps influenced by my speech, thought I was looking for a batting opportunity, and immediately took the ball downfield, and the second ball was called as is.

‘What about the next ball?’

‘It’s a fastball.’

If it’s a fastball in a two-ball, one-strike situation, it’s a high fastball like before. However, because I remembered hitting a home run in the previous at-bat, I had a feeling that it was unlikely that I would throw it into the zone. And the third ball was thrown.

“Ball.”

‘Fuck, I barely held back.’

I flinched when a high fastball hit me at eye level, but fortunately I was able to hold back the bat, and before I knew it, the ball count was three balls and no strikes.

‘I guess I’ll skip it if I do this?’

Situation with no outs and runner on first base. Since there was no need to deal with me in this situation, there was a high possibility that the ball would go out of the zone this time as well. However,

‘What if it’s Wonho?’

I couldn’t help but think that if it were my friend Wonho, he could get into the zone here.

‘Yes, the ball count is generous anyway, so if it comes close, I’ll have to swing. Besides, if the count goes down by one due to a missed swing, you can win the game.’

It would have been nice to walk here, but with the possibility that the ball might end up in the zone and the hope that the game with Wonho would not end on a dry note, I decided to swing the bat when it came close to the zone and waited for Rossby’s words.

‘It’s a splitter.’

‘Splitter… Okay.’

After completing preparations to hit, I waited for Wonho’s ball, and soon after, the ball flew out of Wonho’s hand…

‘… ‘We were cornered!’

Maybe too much force was applied, but the flat splitter came out slightly loosened! If I hadn’t been thinking about hitting, the timing would have been late, but since I was already preparing to put out the bat, I could at least get the timing right… !

ㅌ-ᅟᅡᆼ!

The hitting sound is strange… ? And the bat vibrates and makes my palm ring.

‘Huh?’

I was taken aback by the situation I was experiencing for the first time, but when I quickly came to my senses, what I saw before my eyes was a half-bat flying away and a batted ball rolling in front of Wonho’s glove.

‘Fuck, the bat is broken!’

After realizing the situation, I ran towards first base,

“Out!”

“Out!”

The ball that went into Wonho’s glove passed through second base and into the first baseman’s glove faster than me.

“Wow, the fucking bat breaks here.”

I thought I had the timing right… There was no way I could not hit the bat against a flat splitter in the mid-130s. If so, that means the bat was broken from the beginning!

“Meng Hao, didn’t you check the bat?”

“Ah… I thought it felt light… “I’m sorry.”

“No, well, Wonho’s performance is good, so that might be the case.”

Under… For some reason, when I hit a home run in my last at-bat, my hand hurt. It seemed like the bat had probably been cracked since then. I thought I pressed Wonho’s fastball with force, but it seemed like the bat couldn’t overcome the ball’s velocity and my strength. I also used the bat for a bit longer.

‘The first double play of the season…’

Even if the bat hadn’t broken, it would have been home runs in consecutive hits… As I returned to the dugout, soothed, I heard the voices of my colleagues mixed with half encouragement and half reprimand.

“I would have done it if the bat hadn’t broken. Kabbi.”

“I see. Under…”

“Oh my, Meng Hao. What if I hit a double play there?”

“I’m sorry.”

I apologized to my colleagues who gave me playful scolds and sat down, and Sangju senior came up and sat down next to me.

‘Oh, I guess I’ll nag you again.’

Sangju senior’s nagging started at the same time as that thought.

“Bitch, take better care of the bat. I’ve been meaning to tell you for a long time, you use the bat too long. Even if I can’t do it, I have to change it at least once a week.”

It may be nagging, but what senior Sangju said was correct. There were players who used 60 to as many as 100 bats in a season, and I used them for almost a month once.

“I’m sorry. “When I was in high school, I didn’t have money to buy a bat, so it became a habit to not sharpen the bat often.”

I needed to take this advice to heart, so I quickly apologized to my senior Sangju. Now, there were a lot of bats because sponsors provided them for free, so there was no need to use bats as sparingly as in the past, so there was no need to get caught up in old habits.

“Ah… Uh, okay. That’s possible.”

The atmosphere in the dugout becomes solemn for a moment. Is it really that solemn that I took your advice?

“Wow, Sangju hyung, I haven’t seen it like that, but he’s trash.”

“Hey, this isn’t the first time you’ve been nagging me like this, but it was my fault.”

“Wow, how many times have I nagged you like this? Really…”

“No! “No, you bastards!”

The reason was unknown, but the once solemn atmosphere became lively again due to Senior Sangju feeling unfairly treated.

‘I hit a double play, but the atmosphere isn’t bad at this level. After all, the team’s performance has to be good.’

“I’m sorry.”

“Yes? What is it? “I’m sorry for hitting the double play.”

“And… Sangju hyung is truly trash. No way…”

Perfect!

“Uh?! It’s up!”

I don’t know why, but at a time when senior Sangju was being called trash by other teammates, the sound of Senior Jincheol’s batting ball was heard and all the noisy players began to focus on the flying ball.

“Go over, go over!”

“Please, please!”

Each player desperately hoped that senior Jincheol’s batted ball would go over,

“Ah…”

“Kabi. “If it had been literature or Daegu, I would have passed on.”

“Fuck, Gocheok is actually quite wide.”

Senior Jincheol’s batted ball was caught right in front of the fence, and the top of the 4th inning ended like that.

‘I won’t go easy either. Is this it?’

If only the bat hadn’t broken, he would have definitely been able to hit the nail on the head, but luckily for Wonho, that time seemed to have been delayed a bit.

And that time came at a timing that was perhaps natural. Typically, starting pitchers are hit hard in the 5th or 6th inning. It was a time when the starting pitchers were losing stamina and the batting line took two rounds to gradually get used to the pitcher’s pitch.

Perfect!

– Weather warning! Weather warning! Weather warning!

The first was a hit by senior Sangju, who went to bat for the third time in the game with two outs in the top of the sixth inning.

“Okay, the timing is finally right. “It’s a fierce tiger!”

When Sangju senior’s hit, Lee Ki-cheol, who had been clenching his fists throughout the game, called me.

“Yes. Coach.”

“Slowly, Wonho’s stamina is declining. “You know, right?”

Normally, this would not have been the time to lose stamina, but today was Sunday and Wonho had only been able to rest for four days after pitching on Tuesday as well. Lee Ki-cheol was worried that I might have forgotten that, so he told me such an obvious story.

“Of course.”

“Let’s come with a wedge this time.”

“Eh.”

“Yes, I believe it.”

“Eh.”

It was annoying to hear him talk about everything he knew, but that was the coach’s job, so he just answered the question and walked into the waiting box. With a new bat he never used.

“Base on balls!”

And then Williams’ walk. It seemed like his stamina had clearly dropped, and he was not able to control the ball as Wonho wanted.

-Batter number 4, second baseman! Ji~ fierce tiger!

‘Okay, 1 point is disappointing. Crongs is also on the mound twice this week, so you never know when he might get hit. ‘Would you like to give me some points?’

After going to bat, Silla’s pitching coach and catcher go up to the mound. The three covered their mouths and continued talking. Something that you can clearly understand without even hearing it. You either filter me out or you decide to compete.

‘What do you say?’

‘The coach and catcher are saying let’s skip it, but your friend is saying he will compete.’

Also. My prediction was correct. And in these fights, the pitcher’s hand almost always went up. Especially if the pitcher is an ace.

… And Wonho was the ace of the team enough to deserve such treatment.

The catcher came down from the mound and sat behind home plate, but the umpire’s voice ordering an intentional throw was not heard.

‘You will compete as hard as possible, right?’

‘You are asking the obvious. The first pitch is a slider.’

The first pitch was a slider that I never swung the bat with today. However, it was a familiar pitch that he had been throwing since high school, and he thought there was little chance that Battery, who was planning on making the game as difficult as possible, could get the slider into the zone.

However,

‘Uh… ?’

“Strike!”

… Contrary to my expectations, Wonho’s slider, which came towards the body and deflected into the zone, resulted in the referee calling it a strike.

‘Have you crossed the borderline? Is this a strike? … Baby, you’re lucky.’

Wonho, standing on the mound, had a poker face on his face, but I could tell. This ball was not thrown with the intention of hitting the borderline.

‘But it’s not bad. If you get a strike on the first pitch, you want to get an out.’

‘This time it’s a fastball.’

‘Okay.’

In a one-strike situation, no matter how much you wanted to get an out, the ball count was advantageous, so there was a high possibility of throwing it outside the zone this time. The ball count was generous, so there was no reason to take risks.

… I thought for a moment. The image of Wonho boldly striking from the first pitch comes to mind. And, I thought that Wonho knew me well as I knew him well. Anyway, since we are both baseball players, we often talked about baseball when we met.

Wouldn’t my friend Wonho know what I’m thinking in this situation?

‘Wait, it seems like I might put it in the zone… ? ‘Just aim at me?’

When I gathered my thoughts like that, Wonho seemed to be ready too when his leg kicked the ground.

‘It’s coming!’