Chapter 615 – Episode 602. 2026 WBC. (5)

Seongtae-hyung’s batted ball floats high and flies. Far, far beyond the fence.

“… Huh?”

“What?! What?! Went! “I’m gone!”

“Aaaaah! Seongtae Yoon!!!!”

“Yoon Seong-tae, you crazy bastard!!!”

Those of us who stopped until the ball went over the fence were able to realize what was happening only after the batted ball went over the fence. It was Seongtae Yoon’s solo home run.

‘Is this real money?’

He has a record of hitting 20 home runs in the league, and he is the player with the best wrist strength on our team except for me and Jin-cheol, but to hit a home run like this against Trilling! I am dumbfounded by the situation that makes no sense.

“Reversal, let’s go!!!”

It was an unbelievable situation until Seongtae came into the dugout and shouted congratulations… I was dumbfounded, but I needed to know what attack I had made in order to turn the game around, so after my colleagues congratulated me, I approached Seongtae, who was drinking a drink, and asked him a question.

“Wow, what kind of ball did you hit?”

“I don’t know! “I just swung the cargo, and it went over!”

Seongtae also seemed to have no idea what kind of ball he hit. Besides, he was so excited that it didn’t seem like he would be of much help.

‘Under… Haha. ‘This is baseball.’

He doesn’t even know what ball he hit, but if you’re lucky and the timing is right, you can skip it. Looking at the speed shown on the electronic display, he looks like a slider, but I wasn’t sure. Anyway, the score is now 4:3.

‘Good. Let’s go!’

And the manager, sensing the trend, sent pinch hitter Koo Jin-mo to the plate in place of right-hander Kim Jeong-hyeon. This means that they will take advantage of Seongtae’s miraculous home run and aim for another home run with Koo Jin-mo, who has a shot… !

“Jinmo! Let’s go!”

“Brother! “Blow it away!”

“Goo Jin-mo! Gu Jin-mo!”

… However, it is called a miracle because it is difficult for a miracle to happen even once.

“Strike! Out!”

Koo Jin-mo strikes out, and the out count goes up. And now it’s my turn to stand in at bat… The path to the waiting stand. My teammates in the dugout didn’t say a word, but I could clearly tell what they wanted from me just by the atmosphere.

‘If one more point is needed, the score is tied, if two points are given, the score is reversed… Okay, let’s do it.’

It would be nice if senior Joo-tae could get on base, but senior Joo-tae’s condition today didn’t seem that good. No, just looking at the records, there was no batter in good condition today.

We only had five hits today. Excluding the hit recorded in the first inning to take advantage of Cole’s injury, there were four.

‘Sweet, but since it’s my fourth at-bat, at least once…’

I prayed like that and took a moment to look at senior Joo Tae’s at bat from the standby at bat. Senior Joo Tae also seemed to think that he couldn’t back down like this, so he continued to kick Trilling’s balls away.

Perfect!

Perfect!

I set the timing slightly behind the speed of the fastball and kicked it a few times. In a situation where he could miss a swing if a change-up comes in, senior Joo-tae watched the incoming breaking balls and made a full count before he knew it.

‘Please, please…’ .’

And the 7 balls of trilling thrown.

“Base on balls!”

“That’s it!”

Senior Joo-tae, who got a walk, clenched his fists and screamed.

‘Yes, it’s major league, so you should get on base at least once every four times you get at bat!’

The board is slowly being laid down. Seongtae hyung’s home run and Joo Tae’s senior got on base with a walk. And the situation is 1 point difference.

‘Let’s go.’

It seemed like I could already hear the price going up. As I was walking to the plate, enjoying that inaudible sound, the coach and catcher seemed to have sensed the unusual atmosphere as well, and the coach and catcher called out time and walked up to the mound.

‘Mr. Rossby, what are you talking about?’

To be honest, I’ve rarely done something like this, but now it’s an important situation where my country’s championship is at stake. I needed some time to think about it in case they were using a strategy to filter me out, so I immediately ordered Mr. Rossby to spy on them.

‘… Nothing much to say? Do you want to go down or deal with me? These are just stories. And he said he would deal with that guy.’

‘I’m glad.’

What Mr. Rossby said was literally meaningless. Cliché words to say to a slightly shaken pitcher late in the game. It was clear that no pitcher would say he would step down in a situation like this, and the better the pitcher was like that guy, the more likely he was to do so.

And not coming down from here meant the same thing as saying that they would fight me head-on. Thinking of leaving me out meant something similar to pitchers getting off the mound.

After a brief visit to the mound, the real match began.

‘Slider, outside.’

‘Okay.’

The first pitch is an outside slider. Since it seemed like he was planning to test the seasoning with the bowl, he decided to skip the first bowl,

“Ball.”

As I expected, the first pitch went outside. If I hadn’t known it was outside, I would have flinched, but since I knew, that didn’t happen.

‘If I do this, are you going to think I’m aiming for a fastball because I didn’t even react to the slider? Or maybe you think you’re aiming for the curve where you hit the home run earlier.’

And the sign exchange between the batteries that gets longer. The pitcher seemed to be having a hard time as he kept shaking his head. However, whether you are a pitcher or a catcher, if your head becomes complicated, your original performance will not come out.

‘Baby, does your head hurt? Think about it for a hundred days and give it a try. I’m fooled.’

… The Goddess of Victory was gradually looking my way and smiling.

‘Fastball. It looks like the lower part of the body.’

In the end, the ball he chose was a low fastball toward his body, where he was most confident. But there was no reason for me to touch the ball he was so confident in. And since it was impossible for Maddux to hit a low ball in the strike zone as he wanted, there was a high possibility that it would end up as a ball.

“Ball.”

‘Great, good. Now two balls.’

I don’t know if it was because he threw a lot, or if his mentality was shaken by home runs and walks, but the guy’s ball didn’t go into the zone. The speed was 95.7 miles (153.9 km/h), so it wasn’t that slow, but it definitely felt like it was shaking.

‘Fastball. This time it’s outside.’

‘Okay.’

A low ball to the body followed by an outside fastball. If the goal was to look far away, it would be best to hit a high ball outside. However, I didn’t really want to hit the outside ball, so I decided to just watch this time and wait for his ball.

Although there was a high probability that it would come into the zone, the fact that the batter made a two-ball meant that he had the right to hit his favorite ball. I didn’t want to hit the heavy guy’s fastball from the outside.

“Strike!”

As expected, this time, the guy’s ball hit inside the strike zone. The strike count went up, but it was actually good. Rather than thinking about making a three-ball and missing it, it was better for me to go evenly and force the ball into the zone.

The pitches he has thrown so far are sliders, fastballs, and fastballs. In this case, the ball to choose as the deciding ball is a changeup or curveball. However, the curveball hit me with a home run once, and the changeup was not a pitch with a high level of perfection. Of course, since he is a major-leaguer, he probably throws better than most Korean players.

In that case, the ball most likely to be the deciding ball is a slider. Since we had also laid ground food that did not respond to the slider, the probability was quite high.

‘Then shall we try to increase the odds a little more?’

‘It’s a fastball this time too. Outside.’

‘Okay.’

After hitting a home run against me, I must have done my analysis correctly. This time, the ball he chose was not a curveball or changeup, but a fastball. In order to make sure to aim for the slider, I decided to bring out the bat this time,

“Jitterbug! Strike!”

I let the guy’s ball go by completely missing it, just in case it wasn’t a foul. With this, the count is now two balls, two strikes. It was the perfect time to throw the deciding ball.

‘Okay, now I have to throw a slider, right?’

‘… It’s a fastball. This time on the body.’

‘… Yes?’

‘Are you deaf? ‘It’s a body fastball.’

‘… Ah, yes.’

But contrary to what I thought, the ball he chose this time was a body fastball. My head gets a little confused.

Are you planning on using the ball count entirely? Or are you thinking of catching me with a fastball because you are confident in it? Did you throw fastballs like this in succession? What? Are you confident that you can stop it even if it hits you? No, I don’t think so. Are you just going to win at full count?

My head is getting more and more complicated. And the pitcher slowly moves his body and prepares to throw. If you think more deeply, you will definitely be late for his fastball.

‘Ah, fuck. I don’t know.’

Anyway, the die was thrown, and there was only one ball for him to throw. Fastball to the body. I just trusted myself and strengthened my hand holding the bat with the thought that I would hit once I was in the zone. And, as if he had made up his mind to throw, he slowly started to lift his leg.

‘Come!’

The moment I make a decision and make eye contact with him,

I felt like I could sense his determination to end me like this. But I also want to end this guy here. The guy’s ball gets closer and closer. The speed was fast, but… It was slow.

So, while feeling a contradictory phenomenon, I headed towards his ball,

… I swung the bat.