Chapter 687 – Episode 674. A Battle of Wits Between Two Coaches With Strong Pride. (1)

[Bottom of the 4th inning, bases loaded, 1 out. At bat is No. 6 hitter Yoon Joong-il. A match that could decide the outcome of today’s game! Bellingham threw the ball! Ji Maengho! It flew! Line drive out! And a runner on second base! You can’t come back! Double play! AT Thunders end the crisis with a double play!]

[Wow, Ji Maeng-ho’s defense was perfect just now. As expected, it was animal-like defense, befitting Ji Maeng-ho.]

[At the top of the 5th inning, the AT Thunders attack begins. The leadoff hitter is number 8 hitter Baek Jeong-jin. … Out. Hitting number 9… Out! Oh, they automatically filtered out Ji Maeng-ho with an intentional throw. … Safe! Ji Maeng-ho reaches second base. Weather warning blow! Ah! I got caught in front of the fence. AT Thunders miss the opportunity with 2 outs and 2nd base. The score is still 1:0. A tight game with a 1-point difference continues.]

[… Out! … Out! … Out! Bellingham cleans up three batters in five balls! The game has now reached a turning point.]

‘Sweetheart, Bellingham is also slowly losing strength.’

It was the bottom of the fifth inning, which ended in a three-way strike, but manager Lee Soo-hyun was feeling the need to replace the pitcher.

Clearing out three batters in just five balls meant that balls that looked good for the batter to hit were thrown, and the quality of the balls that were actually hit was quite good. If the cleanup trio were at bat, it wouldn’t be surprising if they went over the fence.

Moreover, in the last inning, they were unable to stop Hwasa’s main batting line and ended up facing the crisis of bases loaded with one out. If it weren’t for Ji Meng-ho’s super catch, it wouldn’t have been surprising if he had been reversed.

Although the bases were loaded in the bottom of the 4th inning and the inning was blocked by a three-way error, it didn’t seem unusual to get hit.

A feeling of something cheap was binding Lee Soo-hyun.

And in the sport of baseball, this cheap feeling was mostly true,

“Junhyung, are you ready?”

“Yes. “I’ve been preparing since the last inning.”

“Let’s go with Junhyung from the next inning.”

“Yes, already?”

“Okay.”

Lee Soo-hyun made a decision.

3 consecutive losses in the Korean Series.

There were many people who disparaged Lee Soo-hyun’s managerial ability, saying that the win was thanks to Ji Maeng-ho or a strong batting line, but in reality, Lee Soo-hyun was not that incompetent manager.

Winning once could have been achieved through luck, but winning three times, even three times in a row, was impossible for an incompetent manager.

In baseball, the position of a manager is that it is difficult to make a player win a game, but it is easy to make them lose, and to win, you have to go a little further than that. And Lee Soo-hyun was a coach who had a sense of where the game was going.

Lee Soo-hyun, who had previously been recognized for her ability to use pinch hitters based on her senses, was also realizing the sense of replacing pitchers as she went through a difficult season this year.

And now, that sense was telling me to replace Bellingham.

If the pitcher who took over the mound gave up a score, he would be called a manager who was a genius for sending out the first starter who had gone 5 scoreless innings, but Lee Soo-hyun trusted his senses.

“It’s not unusual to get hit. “Junhyung would be better.”

“I understand.”

The next pitcher selected by Lee Soo-hyun is AT franchise star Park Jun-hyung. Park Jun-hyung, who started as the 4th starter this season, was pushed down to the 5th starter as Lim Jun-hoo woke up during the season, but as he was a starter, he was the most reliable pitcher among the pitchers waiting in the bullpen.

[… Although he put two batters on base with a walk and a hit, Seonghyun cleans up the inning! The game now goes to the bottom of the 6th inning.]

[Seonghyeon has very good ball control, but he walked a lot today, right? The number of pitches exceeded 80, and the next inning will likely be the last. We will have to wait until the next inning to find out whether the Hwasan Falcons’ hitters can give Seong-Hyeon his first win in the Korean Series.]

And the bottom of the 6th inning.

“Meng Hao, please do that.”

“Okay. Let’s relax a bit.”

Mate!

Park Jun-hyung, whose cheeks were red after being slapped by Meng Ho, went up to the mound.

-What? Why are you coming down to Bellingham? Isn’t it worth going 6 times?

┗But it felt a little like a feather today. It looks like the batting lineup changed three times?

┗Ha, Dol Soo-hyeon, the bastard got sick.

┗So who is the dam pitcher?

┗┗Park Junhyung

┗┗Are Park Jun-hyung’s cheeks red today?

┗┗ㅇㅇ

┗┗Then it’s worth believing.

And Park Jun-hyung in that state was someone who gave fans confidence.

Park Jun-hyung usually avoids getting hit at all costs, but today’s game is the Korean Series. Because he knew the importance of the game, he volunteered and came up first.

‘Hey, let’s not be nervous. Anyway, I only have to cover 2 innings at most.’

It was annoying to be pushed out of the starting position, but considering the team’s bullpen depth, Park Jun-hyung knew well that he would be better off blocking in the bullpen than the less experienced Jun-hoo,

“Strike!”

As expected from the bullpen, he threw the first pitch with all his might.

[Park Jun-hyung’s first pitch. The result was 147.2 km/h.]

And when he saw Park Jun-hyung’s first pitch, manager Lee Soo-hyun was relieved. A score of around 147 means that Park Jun-hyung is in peak condition today!

‘Okay, it’s going according to plan.’

[… Out! Park Joon-hyung takes care of the number one hitter, Kim Joo-yeop! Now the second batter, Han Seong-jin, comes to bat. … Strike out!]

[It was a changeup just now, and the drop was perfect, right?]

And with one out left, Si-Woo Choi came to the plate. Choi Si-woo’s performance this season is 44 home runs with a batting average of .301.2.

When Choi Si-woo, who can be said to be the league’s second hitter after Ji Maeng-ho, steps to the plate, Daejeon fans begin to raise their voices.

-Choi Si-woo! Siwoo Choi! Choi Si-woo!

“Ball.”

“Ball.”

And no matter how good Park Jun-hyung was, Choi Si-woo was a difficult opponent, so the ball went in twice in a row.

‘Junhyung, you can’t walk.’

The feelings of Baek Kyung-ho, who is wearing a catcher’s mask, are also conveyed to Park Jun-hyung.

‘Let’s focus. Concentration.’

The third ball I threw with utmost concentration.

Ta – Aak!

Choi Si-woo’s bat swung without missing the ball.

[Choi Si-woo’s batted ball! It’s big! It’s big! This batted ball… !]

And Choi Si-woo’s batted ball ended up in the center fielder’s glove at the end of the warning track. It was a hit that could have passed if Bellingham had lost his power, but Park Jun-hyung, who had not thrown many balls throughout this postseason, still had plenty of power and was able to suppress Choi Si-woo’s power.

[This is the end of the inning! Park Jun-hyung ends the inning with a three-way throw!]

[Did you think Coach Lee Soo-hyun’s bold pitcher change was correct? I was surprised that Bellingham suddenly replaced the pitcher after pitching 5 scoreless innings, but this strategy worked well.]

And Lee Soo-hyun’s aim did not end here.

[Two outs. Ji Maeng-ho is at bat. Ah, another walk. … Weather warning, first pitch hit! Ji Maeng-ho reaches third base! The AT Thunders quickly create an opportunity with 2 outs and 1st and 3rd bases. And here, Choi Jin is at bat… Oh, the batter is being replaced?]

[Today, Choi Jin-cheol had no hits in three at-bats and one double play, so his timing wasn’t right with Seong-hyeon at all, right? Director Lee Soo-hyun draws his sword here.]

[And the batter who came to bat in place of Choi Jin-cheol was Burch, a mercenary batter. He appeared in 104 regular season games, batting .266 with 10 home runs, and has had one hit in four total plate appearances in baseball this fall.]

[Actually, it would be a great risk to leave out a veteran player like Choi Jin-cheol here, right? Besides, Birch’s performance isn’t that good? What will be the result of this choice? .]

-What, Dol Soo-hyun, is this guy crazy?

┗Ah, why don’t you just go into spectator mode as usual? Why is this all of a sudden pinch hitting?

┗┗But you’re good at pinch hitting

┗┗That’s because my brother was a pinch hitter, and if Woo Kwan-hyung is on the bench, no one can pinch hitterㅅㅂ

Although Choi Jin-cheol was sluggish in the first half of the season, he bounced back and hit .300 with an OPS of 0.8. Burch, who had been criticized as a poor player, was substituted as a pinch hitter.

However, director Lee Soo-hyun had his own thoughts.

Seonghyun’s main weapon today is a changeup. It was a ball that a right-handed hitter could never touch unless it was Ji Maeng-ho, and Burch was a left-handed hitter with a relatively fast bat speed. Against Seonghyeon, who was weak, it was worth placing more expectations on Birch than on Jincheol Choi, whose timing was not at all right.

Moreover, since he was recruited as a 5-tool player, he had decent feet, so he could look forward to unexpected situations.

Perfect!

And just as Lee Soo-hyun expected, Birch’s bat swung quickly,

[This ball was hit by a third baseman, huh?! Uh?! Fumble the ball! Ah! Throw to first base! Three leaves! Burch makes it to first base alive! Score 2:0! AT Thunders get one more point!]

[Did you like Birch’s sprint? Birch was criticized for his half-hearted play when the season started, but at what point did he start playing with such enthusiasm? This sprint saved Birch and the team.]

… It wasn’t clean, but we succeeded in scoring a score.

‘Good. If this is the case, today’s game is secured.’

And the score was bigger than expected. The Hwasan Falcons had been resting for about a month to prepare for the Korean Series, and one game was not enough for the batters to improve their condition.

[… This is how the game ends! AT Thunders wins the first game of the Korean Series with a score of 2:1!]

[Ji Maeng-ho’s home run in the top of the first inning and manager Lee Soo-hyun’s pinch-hit strategy were good, right?]

[Then let’s meet Ji Maeng-ho, the daily MVP of Game 1, who had 1 hit in 1 at-bat, 2 runs scored, 1 RBI, and 4 walks. Hello, Ji Maeng-ho!]

In that way, Game 1 of the Korean Series was won by the AT Thunders thanks to Lee Soo-hyun’s ghost-like substitution strategy,

‘What a dog… Ji Maeng-ho, if that devilish bastard hadn’t hit a home run, we would have taken the game… !’

Moon Ki-taek was grinding his teeth.

‘Tomorrow is different, tomorrow… !’