Chapter 722 – Episode 709. First Expedition. (2)

“Hey, Ji. You’re feeling okay today, right? I think your throw is a little stronger than usual. “I will ask you to remain calm during the game.”

“Oh, sorry.”

When I finished training, first baseman Derek Hall, who had caught my ball, came up to me and asked how I was feeling. He seemed to have noticed that I had a lot of energy unlike usual.

In fact, as Hall said, he was full of energy right now.

The reason was simple. This is because the environment to properly remove it was not created yesterday.

Although Zia flew to Detroit around the same time, I had overlooked one fact. The fact is that the human body is not that strong.

Jia and I spent almost a week together. Zia pitched for me for 7 days and ended up being overworked by fighting 7 straight games against me.

The 7-game series is an abuse of abuse that not even Hyuna, one of my women, can bear. In Korea, I continued to use a similar 5-man rotation, and when I went to an away game, I used a replacement starter, and even if I didn’t go on an away game, I used at least two players to support me in each game.

However, since all the women except Jia were in Korea, Jia had no choice but to go to bed for 7 days in a row, and in the end, Jia couldn’t stand it and suffered a breakdown.

She kept saying that Jia was fine for fear that it would interfere with the game, but I wasn’t the type of person who couldn’t tell the difference between a moan of pain and a moan of joy. However, she didn’t want to call and find another woman even though she was sharing the same room with Jia.

‘Hyuna needs to come to the US quickly…’

The only woman who can come over as quickly as possible right now is Hyuna. But she was going to take at least a week because HyunA was also competing in the championship game in Korea right now.

But the good news is that she’s about to accept an offer from a volleyball team in New York, so now she can stay with Hyuna until she starts training again.

Anyway, I was worried about Jia, so she wasn’t able to get rid of it to her satisfaction yesterday, and I was in a state where I was overflowing with energy right now. She went so far as to say that Hall’s throw was a bit strong.

And that continued in batting training as well. Even though Comerica Park, the home stadium of the Detroit Tigers, was a pitcher-friendly stadium, he hit the ball over the fence.

You may ask whether being overly energetic is a good thing, but I already knew this because I had already experienced this condition in Korea. This means that the current state of overflowing power actually becomes a hindrance.

During practice, the ball was easy to hit, so it was okay just to practice, but I couldn’t concentrate, and if I used too much force, it was different from usual, so when I got into practice, my timing wasn’t right.

The problem in particular is defense. The longer I played defense, the more I noticed the woman in the stands and couldn’t concentrate.

However, since it was a forced discharge to remove it by hand, it was obvious that I would only think about sex more and not be able to concentrate.

Of course, there were quite a few times when I went into a game without having sex for a day, so it wasn’t that dangerous yet. The only time I really couldn’t concentrate was when I endured it for about 3 days.

‘Tsk, but when I go home after today, I’ll have to ask them to take it off.’

After training, the game started without even knowing how time had passed. Because it was an away game, I was the leadoff hitter in the top of the first inning. Detroit’s starting pitcher was Matt Manning, the third starter who achieved 10 wins by filling regular innings for the first time last year.

Although he was a 10-win pitcher, his earned run average was around 5 points, so is he just an ordinary right-handed pitcher? The pitches I throw are sliders, two-seamers, change-ups, and curves. I heard that the ones I need to be especially careful about are the curves and change-ups.

As you can tell just by listening to the description, this is just my type of food.

However, it was my first time meeting a pitcher, and I was not familiar with the ball’s trajectory since I was about 2 m tall, so I needed to see a few balls to familiarize myself with the trajectory.

‘It’s an outside slider.’

‘Okay.’

Manning’s first pitch of choice was a slider. Manning’s slider appears to fly toward the center of the zone, but then deviates to the outside.

“Strike!”

“This?”

“I came in.”

Under… It’s already annoying, but the referee isn’t helping.

When a ball that looks like a ball to anyone’s eye is declared a ball, I get very annoyed. However, it could have just been the referee looking too wide, so I just held on and waited for the next ball.

‘Slider again. The mitt doesn’t move.’

‘I guess so. ‘What?’

Since the referee knows that the outside area is wide, it is natural for the battery to continue targeting that area. Manning threw the ball again in a similar position as before.

The slider of the guy flying to a similar position as before. However, he felt like he wouldn’t get a good hit even if he hit this ball, so he held back tears and didn’t swing the bat.

“Ball.”

This time the ball was called.

“Hmm…”

And the opposing catcher is slightly dissatisfied. The catcher also felt that he was in a similar position as before.

‘Okay, check the referee’s blindness.’

As long as the referee is an idiot, walking away is a no-brainer. I decided to touch every similar ball that came in and waited for the pitcher’s third ball.

‘It’s a slider. This time, the same position as before.’

But unlike me, who made up my mind quickly, it seemed like Detroit’s battery wanted to experiment one more time. Of course, I was planning on swinging the bat if I came to a similar position.

“Ball.”

However, this time his ball fell to the outside and was declared a perfect ball. Now the count is two balls, one strike.

‘Fastball. It’s high.’

‘Okay.’

He dropped three in a row, and it was a high fastball… It was obvious that he was trying to guide my swing. However, since I was not a player without a good starting pitch to the point where I was vulnerable to such a move, I blocked his fourth ball and the count quickly became three balls and one strike.

The count of a hitter who can aim perfectly.

‘Again, fastball high.’

‘Okay. It felt like the fastball came in slightly from above, didn’t it?’

The guy chose a fastball again, and I timed my bet by looking at the trajectory of the guy’s fastball I saw earlier. And the guy’s ball was thrown.

‘… ‘Two three!’

Perfect!

‘Ah… It was a ball.’

However, the moment I hit it, I realized that it was a ball, and as it missed the bat, the ball went up high. In the end, the batted ball is trapped in the infield and treated as a pop fly.

‘Oh, it was too urgent. I should have waited a bit…’

Surely it’s because I wasn’t fully satisfied yesterday? Normally I would have held back, but I ended up leaving too hastily.

‘Well, it’s still only episode 1.’

Although it was a bit difficult, it was still my first at-bat. There were many opportunities left to make up for it.

After I was out, Judge got on base with a walk, but Soto, the number 3 hitter, and Vientos, who appeared as the number 4 hitter today, made consecutive infield ground balls, and our offense ended without any problems in the top of the first inning. 〈 Br〉

And Buehler also neatly blocked Detroit’s attack in the bottom of the first inning, and the game went scoreless until the third inning.

In the top of the third inning, the leadoff hitter leaves. I watched Verdugo’s at bat from the waiting box, expecting him to prepare a delicious meal.

Perfect!

‘Oh, shit.’

But the result was a fly to right field. Suddenly, I wondered if I should have hit him more then, but since I had retired with a bad hit in my first at-bat, I held back and went to my second at-bat.

‘Change-up. ‘Body side.’

‘You’re throwing a changeup towards me?’

Maybe he didn’t do my analysis, or maybe he just ignored my analysis, but the first pitch he chose was a changeup toward the body. I didn’t see his changeup in person at the plate, but I watched it on video, in the dugout, and at the standby, so I decided to swing hard from the first pitch and waited for his changeup.

And the first pitch of the guy who was thrown.

Ta – Aak!

The moment it is hit by a batted ball, the bat makes a loud noise and the batted ball disappears into the distance.

“Ah…”

But the result was a foul. There was too much force and the bat came out faster than expected.

‘Fuck, if I had left out a little more yesterday, I would have gotten over it.’

However, even if I was disappointed, the ball I hit didn’t come back, so I quickly erased my regret and waited for the guy’s ball.

But no matter how long I waited, his ball did not enter the zone. He probably felt afraid after seeing the changeup fly. So the count once again became three balls and one strike,

‘Slider. ‘Low on the body.’

The guy chose a body slider.

‘Shall I wait? ‘Should I not?’

I was worried about a moment because I had failed at hitting a three-ball earlier, but I decided to just hit it when it looked good and waited for his fifth ball.

‘… ‘High!’

And contrary to what Mr. Rossby said, the ball floated slightly from the beginning. A ball like this was like a free home run if the timing was right, so I swung the bat without hesitation.

Ta – Aak!

And again, a cheerful sound echoes from the bat… However, because the slider was higher than expected, the batted ball was formed as a line drive and flew over the shortstop’s head.

‘I guess I can get to second base.’

‘Second base? Okay.’

Mr. Rossby’s decision goes all the way to second base.

I passed first base at a fast pace, and slowly began to slow down with the intention of stopping at second base. But then,

‘Third base!’

Mr. Rossby’s voice was heard strongly calling for third base. Looking at the direction the batted ball flew, the center fielder was looking at the batted ball flowing backward with a devastated expression, and the left fielder was chasing the ball to catch it.

‘To home?’

‘No, the left fielder caught it. The cover was quick.’

I tried to run all the way to home, but Mr. Rossby stopped me, and the third base coach was giving me a signal to stop, so I was content with just standing and going to third base.

“What happened?”

“I woke up.”

… Breaking the egg?

“I think you were embarrassed because you hit the ball faster than expected? It’s not that Green is a bad defensive player, but he seems to have hit a lot better than expected. He was a good hitter. Ji.”

A major league center fielder was able to hit a ball so fast that it laid eggs. He had the strength to turn around and there were some good things about it. Well, if I was in my usual condition, I would have passed the first pitch.

Anyway, the situation is now 1 out and 3rd base.

“Strike! Out!”

I was appalled when Judge took a big swing and struck out, but

Ta – Aak!

As Soto’s ball went over the fence, we were able to take a 2-0 lead from the top of the third inning.

After that, the game became a pitcher’s battle. Buehler gave up 1 run in the very next inning, but after that neither team scored, and the score was 2:1 at the end of the 5th inning.

In the 7th inning, Verdugo hit a solo home run against a changed pitcher, bringing the score to 3:1, and when I also used the momentum to hit a double, the coach approached me.

“Hey Ji.”

“Yes?”

“How about resting here today? “It’s because it was my first away trip on a plane yesterday, and the score is 3-1, and I don’t think I’ll be back at bat again.”

Maybe it was because I was the highest paid person, but the coach had difficulty speaking,

“Yes. What. I’m fine.”

Since I was slowly losing concentration, I readily nodded to the coach’s words and accepted the replacement.

And fortunately, the game went on without any problems even after I was out. Starting pitcher Buehler blocked Detroit’s batting line by allowing 1 run in 8 innings, and Miller, the closer, pitched the remaining 1 inning perfectly, ending the game 4-1.

So, in my first away game in the major leagues, I had pretty good results, recording 2 hits in 4 at-bats, but I was very disappointed with the changeup I missed because I wasn’t in my best condition. If it had been Korea, it would have been enough to overcome even in these conditions, but seeing as it didn’t go through, it was clearly the major league.

‘Tsk, I guess I’ll have to ask you to take it out with my mouth a few times today.’