Chapter 613 – Episode 600. The World’s Strongest. (4)

Perfect!

Senior Joo Tae’s batted ball rolls in front of the second baseman. Seongtae, who took advantage of that opportunity and went out as a pinch runner, succeeded in advancing to third base, but the situation was 2 outs and 3rd base. It wasn’t such a good situation.

‘Write… Does it really look like Gu Yue is screwed up? ‘I see they can’t send anyone to the outfield.’

The only thing that hitters who faced Trilling, who came on the mound in place of Cole, said was that his pitch was no joke.

‘So, are you nervous?’

‘Me? Well, I must be that nervous. Velocity in the mid 150s? No matter how heavy it is, it’s just a ball that’s easy to hit.’

The seniors made a fuss about it, but honestly, I didn’t feel it. Because he was an orthodox right-hander that I just liked. The pitches he throws are fastball, slider, curve, and circle changeup. I’ve heard of fastballs being thrown up to 100 mph, but the average velocity was in the mid-150s and the velocity of other breaking balls wasn’t that fast either.

Baseball is a sport where no matter how rock-like a ball you throw, if you hit it at the right time, it will go over the fence, so there was nothing to worry about.

‘The first pitch was a fastball.’

I went into the at-bat without any worries. The guy seemed like he was going to have a power struggle against me, so he chose a fastball as the first pitch.

‘Shall we shake it a little first?’

It would have been nice to aim for a home run from the first pitch, but the possibility of a home run wasn’t that great, and it was clear that if he continued to show like this even if I hit a home run, today’s game would be difficult, so I decided to shake him and slightly lowered the bat. .

And as I laid down the bat, the American infielders began to advance.

‘It looks like the power analysis was done thoroughly. Well, even in the last Olympics, it ended with a bunt.’

The guy’s age is around 23-4. Strangely enough, in America, you don’t turn a year older until after your birthday, so I don’t know exactly how old you were, but in any case, you were quite young. That guy sees my bunt posture?
His head couldn’t help but hurt.

Moreover, in my first at-bat, I stole two bases against him and impressed him with my speed.

“Ball.”

… If this were to happen, the control would shake even slightly, like it does now. I hit the bat right away on a high, outside trajectory, and was able to get a good ball count from the first pitch.

‘Shall we try again?’

‘Why are you asking me that?’

‘That’s just the way it is said.’

‘It’s a slider.’

‘Oh, slider.’

His slider is in the low to mid 140s. Compared to a fastball, it was a ball that did not require much attention. Even though the fastball was heavy, the slider was not heavy either. Well, if you mix it with his biggest weapon, the fastball, it will definitely be effective, but for me, who can tell the difference, it doesn’t mean much.

‘If you enter the zone, you will be hit immediately.’

I felt a little uneasy because it was a breaking ball thrown by a pitcher I met for the first time, but I got ready to hit it and waited with the bat, thinking that it would be easier to get the breaking ball over the fence than the fastball that all the other hitters were talking about.

“Ball.”

But his slider goes down, and it’s a two-ball. When it became a two-ball situation, anxiety began to creep in.

‘I’m sure the pitcher who won the Cy Young won’t skip me, right? No way… No matter how many outs…’

‘It’s a fastball.’

‘…’

The ball he chose this time was a fastball. I wanted to bother him by bunting like the first pitch, but for some reason, I had a strong feeling that he would skip me when it became a three-ball. Does it feel like he’s betting on me in an easy choice?

‘Okay, either hit a fastball or walk. Choose one of the two, right? Good. Because I wanted to join in too.’

It felt like he would throw the ball outside if he made a bunt motion, and it didn’t look like he was going to throw the breaking ball into the zone, so I concentrated and waited for his ball. And the guy’s legs are slowly rising. Since he was an orthodox right-hander who didn’t throw like the guy I met in the semifinals, he had a rough idea of ​​the timing, and his hands swung like lightning.

‘… ‘Now!’

Ta – Aak!

‘… ‘Big.’

There was a light sound from the bat, but I felt strong pain in my hand, and the batted ball flew into the stands near first base.

‘… ‘Did you get pushed back?’

I think I hit it at the right time, but the ball seems to have been slightly pushed… Normally, if the timing was just this good, it would have gone over the fence or flew into the outfield, but as the seniors said, it was definitely a Cy Young win.

‘I don’t want to hit you like this…’

Honestly, if it were a league I would have kept trying to pass the ball to him. But now it’s the finals. And it was an opportunity created even when senior Suho was injured. Here, out of my greed, if I targeted his fastball and got out, it would have been a disaster.

‘Fastball.’

‘… Okay.’

He must have sensed my feelings and chose a fastball twice in a row.

Perfect!

This time, the foul curved toward third base. Conscious of being pushed back, I swung the bat slightly faster, but the timing wasn’t right this time. With this, the situation is two balls, two strikes. Normally, the batter would be at a disadvantage, but I actually liked this situation more.

Because two-and-two was the timing for the pitcher to throw the deciding ball. And the deciding ball that most pitchers throw is a breaking ball. Although the fastball was a powerful ball, it was the ball that pitchers threw the most, so batters could deal with it to a certain extent, and it was a ball that could create at least a foul.

‘… Surely he won’t throw a fastball again in two-two?’

Don’t worry about that for a moment.

‘It’s a curve.’

‘Curve? These bastards didn’t do power analysis properly. Okay.’

I heard that his best pitch is a curveball, but he throws a curveball at me. Even if he was the best pitcher in the AL, his confidence was too much. … Well, or maybe it’s because I showed a weaker curve than usual in the second half of last year.

Anyway, in this situation, the flying curve was a great news.

‘The question is whether this curve is inward…’

Normally, I could just watch when the curve goes outside the zone, but if it becomes a three-ball, it’s a situation where the guy might skip me… But the more I thought about it, the more my head got confused, so I erased those thoughts and just remembered the curved trajectory of the guy I saw in the video.

The trajectory of his curve was a perfect 12-6 curve, and although the speed was not that fast, the trajectory of the curve falling from the batter’s head to his knees was impressive.

‘Yonggi struck out with that, right? First, the timing at that time was about one, two, three…’

As I watched him, I kept remembering the scene in my head where I struck out Yonggi. And as soon as he got ready to throw the ball and raised his leg, I erased all those thoughts and focused on his every move.

‘… ‘It’s coming!’

And the guy’s ball was thrown… !

After leaving the guy’s hand, the ball, which felt like it was slightly floating, flew quickly and started to slowly fall down about halfway, and my bat was already meeting his ball.

‘… Ugh, that’s low.’

But this guy’s curve seems to come in lower than expected… It was already too late to take the bat away, so I swung the bat until the end,

Ta-ah!

The ball that fell hit the bat exactly.

“Aaaaah!!!”

And then a loud noise is heard nearby, with no one knowing who screamed it. However, the sound was one that deeply conveyed the Korean spirit.

“Don’t throw curveballs at me from now on.”

After enjoying the roar and saying a kind word to the catcher who had asked for a curve in such an important situation, I raised my hand holding the bat, and the frozen stadium began to shake.

-Wow!!!!

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

In response to that shout, I threw the bat far away and then circled the bases as usual. 1st base, 2nd base, 3rd base. And home. Even when third base runner Seongtae, who was waiting for me at home, and back hitter Seungcheol finished high-fiving, the voices of the fans who came to cheer for us did not decrease at all.

“Ji Maeng-ho!”

“You crazy bastard!”

“This is Jimaengho!!”

And after celebrating and enjoying the voices of my colleagues louder than the voices of the audience, I approached senior Suho, who was sitting on a bench and waiting for me.

“Senior, this is what you did as usual, right?”

“Yes, good job.”

Tuk. Suho puts out his fist, and I also put out my fist, and our fists touch. And with that fistful greeting, Senior Suho takes his steps while being supported by the staff.

‘It shouldn’t be a major injury to win again this year… Ha, let’s focus on the game for now. Because winning the WBC is also important.’

Now the score is 2:0. If the universe can hold on, victory is not that far away.

*

[… Out. Trilling ends the inning by striking out Joo Seung-cheol. But the score is 2:0. Ji Maeng-ho’s go-ahead two-run home run puts Korea ahead by two runs, and the game heads into the bottom of the third inning.]

Ji Maeng-ho hit a go-ahead home run that made fun of Trilling’s seemingly untouchable curveball, but Trilling ended the inning by striking out Joo Seung-cheol, who came after him, as if such a home run was no problem.

And then the bottom of the third inning began.

[… Jang Woo-joo strikes out Lutchman!]

I wondered if Jang Woo-joo would continue the momentum from the first run by striking out the 8th batter, Lutchman, but

[Sean’s hit passes between the shortstop and third baseman! 1 out, 1st base! And then, Betts comes to bat again.]

The American batters’ second at-bat came with a hit by Sean. And the American batters swung their bats as if they would not forgive Jang Woo-joo’s second ball.

[Ah… Betts hits the ball high. This hit is to left field! Center field! It falls in between! Sean, the runner on first base, reaches third base! Betts to second base! Betts’ consecutive hits create a situation with one out and second and third bases.]

[Ah… Conceding a goal right after scoring is not good for the atmosphere, right?]

[Now, Trout is the number 2 batter at bat… Walk. Trout catches the sixth pitch, creating a bases-loaded situation. With one out and bases loaded. And at the plate is Tucker, who recorded a batting average of .317 and 40 home runs in the major leagues last year.]

Back-to-back hits by Sean and Betts, and a walk by Trout. And at the plate is Tucker, one of the best outfielders in the major leagues. Jang Woo-ju’s heart was beating violently,

Perfect!

Tucker’s batted ball split into right-center.

[This hit is to center field! Right field! Run! Uh? Joo Seung-cheol! Joo-seung, whoa!]

No, it seemed like it was splitting apart. If it weren’t for center fielder Joo Seung-cheol. Joo Seung-cheol was slightly sluggish in these important WBC games, but there was no sluggishness in his defensive skills and Joo Seung-cheol soared.

[Gotcha! Out! Meanwhile, the runner on third base goes home! 2:1! But now the situation is two out! Joo Seung-cheol’s great defense makes a timely sweep and a sacrifice fly!]

Korea was able to take a breather thanks to his fantastic defense, which proved why he is the starting center fielder in the major league.

[… A walk puts Judge on base. The situation is 2 outs and bases loaded. Ah, this is where Jang Woo-joo comes down. The changed pitcher is UG’s closer, Kim Woo-jun.]

Jang Woo-joo, who walked Judge and had the bases loaded once again, had no choice but to come down from the mound.

Jang Woo-joo’s record was 2.2 innings, allowing 1 run. Although his performance was shabby, there was no baseball fan who could criticize Jang Woo-ju. The players Jang Woo-joo faced were currently ranked among the top three players at each position in the major league.

[Because Olson and Seager are left-handed hitters, I think they listed left-hander Kim Woo-jun here, right? This is a good pitcher replacement because he has good pitching skills as a closing pitcher.]

[Now it’s Olson at the plate and Woojun Kim on the mound. … Olsen’s first pitch hit! Out! The long bottom of the third inning ends when shortstop Yoon Seong-tae catches the ball and throws it to second base! Score 2:1! Korea is still ahead!]

Afterward, pitcher Kim Woo-jun, who was replaced, caught Olsen with an infield ground ball, and the game went on with the minimum score of 1 point in the dangerous bottom of the 3rd inning.

[… Choi Si-woo… Kang Han Beom… Trilling finishes the top of the 4th inning with three outs while calling out the meteor. Even though he gave up a point, he still shows powerful pitching.]

The United States, with Trilling still showing its strength,

[… Seager’s batted ball is high! Left field! Catch it! One out! … Riley’s hit! Now it’s 1 out and 1 base. Ah… And Kim Woo-jun, who faced three batters, goes down here. Jung Woo-sung on the mound. … Lutchman… Jung Woo-sung ends the inning by catching Sean. The game goes to the top of the 5th inning!]

South Korea kept changing pitchers as if they were going to use up all their pitchers today, and the game was getting closer and closer to the middle as the unstable pitching battle continued.