Chapter 734 – Episode 721. Class Is Forever. (2)

Ta – Aak!

‘Wow, shit.’

As I turned my head back to see the ball that I was sure would go over the fence the moment it was hit, I saw center fielder Kelnick follow the ball and then stop. And the batted ball goes over the fence. Looking ahead, Trout raised his hand.

‘Wasn’t that nobleman an old man?’

It was clearly a throwback that was hitting 10% before the series started… No, even up until the first game, the batter who was in a fierce battle with Rodon, the starting pitcher in the worst condition on the team, could make such a perfect batted ball.

Plus, Singer’s ball from behind wasn’t that bad. Was it a ball that exquisitely struck the outer borderline?

He showed good performance yesterday by hitting 2 hits in 4 at-bats, but seeing him hit a home run today showed that his condition has definitely improved.

‘Sseuup, is this a transformation?’

In fact, the Angels’ batting lineup so far hasn’t been that scary. Most of the batting lineup, including Trout, was in the .200s range, and about three players had batting averages over .300, but the batting order was spaced out, so it didn’t feel like there was a lot of cohesion.

However, after Trout hit a home run like this from number 4, I felt anxious. Although Singer has been doing well these days, he is not a very high-class player.

‘Is it really going to pass today? Shit, I recognized you from the moment you danced in the locker room.’

And this home run started with a ridiculous mistake by Verdugo, who was dancing passionately in the locker room before the game started. Although it wasn’t recorded as an error because he was in the outfield, he turned a ball that an outfielder should have caught into a double, which led to a score.

‘How many more do we really need to squeeze in?’

Does it make you a little excited to think that your 14-game winning streak would end with one ridiculous mistake like this? I don’t know if it was any other player, but I was even more angry when the guy who was dancing before the game made such a mistake.

“… Out!”

Fortunately, Singer seemed to have got his mentality and increased the count of outs by dealing with the batter behind him.

Perfect!

However, Cabrera gets a hit and the situation is 2 outs and runners on first base. And at the plate came Ferreira, one of the Angels’ few hitters with a .300 hitter. His batting average this season is .366.

Ta – Aak!

And, as if to prove his batting average, he hit a sharp line drive toward me. I jumped as high as I could and tried to catch his batted ball, but his batted ball floated high for a long time, and just when I thought it was a hit,

-Waaaaa!!!

A huge cheer was heard. When I checked the direction of the batted ball and saw right fielder Soto lying face down and holding his glove high. Looking at the atmosphere, it seemed like he made a great diving catch.

‘… If you’re that good at baseball, I won’t hate you.’

Even if we play together, some people make mistakes and some people play tricks.

In fact, I am even more angry at Verdugo because Soto was not a very good defensive player. Verdugo had the best outfield defense on the team, excluding center fielder Kelnick.

“Brady, I’m sorry. “I’ll make up for the blow.”

When Verdugo returned to the dugout after the long first inning, he apologized to Singer, perhaps because he still had his mind set.

“Are you okay. “I received a lot of defensive help in the last game.”

And Singer calmly accepts Verdugo’s apology. He wanted to squeeze it, but he said the pitcher was fine, so I stopped thinking about it.

After all, baseball is a sport where all kinds of things happen during the game.

The important thing now is to follow the score.

And for that to happen, my role as the number one hitter was important.

‘Tsk, after all, if it’s not me, the team won’t work.’

Today’s starting pitcher is Canning, the Angels’ second starting pitcher. He wasn’t a very special pitcher when you just looked at his fastball line. The four-seamer was a right-handed pitcher who was common in the major leagues with an average speed of 94 mph (151.2 km/h) and a maximum speed of 97 mph (156 km/h). However, the sinker (two-seamer) boasted a similar velocity to the four-seam, and the changeup averaged around 89 miles (143.2 km/h) and was quite fast, with a maximum velocity of 92 miles (148 km/h).

Normally, the changeup is slow and perfect to hit, but is it a bit burdensome to hit the fast changeup around 140?

He also threw a slider and a curveball, but not to a special degree.

The thoughts I felt while watching his practice pitching from the standby batting box were similar to those I had when analyzing his power. I felt like I needed to be careful with the changeup, but other than that, he just felt like an ordinary right-handed pitcher.

‘Hmm… In times like this, it would be better to exclude the change-up, right? There is no need to touch an unfamiliar ball.’

It was my first at-bat with a strategy on how to hit the guy’s ball.

‘Four-seam, inside.’

‘Okay.’

The guy has been throwing fastballs since the first pitch.

“Strike!”

And he must have clearly analyzed me, knowing that I don’t hit the first pitch well, so he boldly throws it inside the strike zone.

‘Is this around the late 140s to early 150s? 93 miles? That’s right. Okay. Check the fastball.’

The guy’s pitch, which I checked directly at the plate, didn’t seem to be any different. Probably the same goes for sliders and curves. In this case, I thought it would be better to win the game quickly before he could win with his changeup, so I decided to swing the bat from the second ball.

‘It’s two-minded. This time, on the body.’

‘Okay.’

And the ball he chose was a two-seamer toward the body. Throwing a four-seamer toward the body and throwing a two-seamer back toward the body means throwing it outside the zone and causing a missed swing.

“Ball.”

There was no way such a basic technique would work for me, so I watched the ball again and the ball count became one ball, one strike.

‘Slider, mitt in the middle.’

‘Are you trying to eat me?’

A slider is, in my opinion, a ball that curves outward. Since he didn’t react to four-seamers and two-seamers, it was very obvious that he intended to throw a slider that came on a similar trajectory and fell to the outside to get a strike.

However, if you know that the slider is thrown with a similar trajectory to the body four-seamer, it is a perfect ball to hit.

And I knew his balls.

Ta – Aak!

It wasn’t perfect timing because the throwing position was good, but the batted ball went well over the left wall. You’re pulling such a clumsy trick at me… Apparently, the opponent underestimated me because I couldn’t hit a home run in this series.

“Let’s do some counting while watching the other person.”

“This bastard…”

After giving a clear warning to the opposing catcher, he walked around the base and entered the dugout. The atmosphere in the dugout was as bright as a team that was on a 14-game winning streak.

“Ji! Are you starting the engine again?”

“This is Ji!”

“Good! Let’s go to the reverse!”

Maybe it’s because they’ve won 14 games in a row, but even when they’re losing, it doesn’t feel like they’re going to lose? It felt like all the crappy atmosphere caused by Verdugo’s poor defense was washed away with my one home run.

Perfect!

And as if continuing the good mood, Judge hit a single and got on base. Although the next batter, Soto, was unfortunately out, the batter who came to bat was Derek Hall, who is playing the role of the number 4 hitter with a batting average of .303 and 5 home runs in 14 games this season.

In fact, Hall played a significant role in the 14-game winning streak. Although he hit 22 home runs the year before last and 30 home runs the year before, Hall, whose batting average was only around .203 or .202, was recording a batting average in the low to mid-.300 range and 5 home runs this season.

Even from the side, Hall’s hitting ability looked quite good,

Ta – Aak!

This time, the bat spewed fire. The ball pushed by Hall flies toward the left wall.

“Did you go? Did you go?”

“Go over, go over!”

“Hoooool!!”

Although his teammates in the dugout expected a tying home run,

“Ah…”

“Turn around! “Turn around!”

“Run! Aaron!”

Unfortunately, Hall’s batted ball falls into the ground after hitting the fence. And Judge, who had been running furiously from first base, rushes toward home. And the left fielder’s throw is thrown towards home. Judge’s hand touched home plate and the catcher’s mitt touched Judge’s body at almost the same time,

“Safe!”

The referee spreads his arms wide, and three leaves are declared.

“Ha, ha. “I thought I was going to die.”

“Haha, Aaron. Then I really feel like I’m going to die.”

“It’s not there yet.”

Back in the dugout, Judge is out of breath and high-fives his teammates. It was a bit cool to see the old man running so hard to score one point, but I couldn’t help but say this when I thought of the judge who had been bragging all yesterday about matching the number of home runs.

“If you had hit a home run like me, you wouldn’t have had to play. Well, I had a good time running anyway. Jersey.”

“…”

Judge makes a stupid expression at my words. However, the game continued regardless of whether Judge made a stupid face or not, and the bottom of the first inning ended with Ohapi and Kelnick being out.

“Okay, let’s block it cleanly and go for a comeback in the next inning!”

Now the score is 1 point lower.

As if to continue the heated atmosphere, Singer blocked the top of the second inning with no runs, and Vientos, the lead hitter in the bottom of the second inning, immediately fired a solo shot to bring the game back to square one. At the beginning of the season, Vientos was behind Soto and hit number 4, but as he hit .200 with 3 home runs, he was pushed down to number 7 in the batting order against right-handed pitchers, and he hit a home run for the first time in 12 games.

‘It looks like Vientos is coming back to life now. Yes, if you lost money during the 14-game winning streak, now you have to pay for it.’

And leaving the number 8 batter at bat.

Perfect!

As if he wanted to continue that atmosphere even after Verdugo, he made a batted ball that cut into left-center,

“… Out!”

… I was out while aiming for second base.

‘Oh, fuck. Just stay still at first base. I would have called him anyway…’

It feels like cold water is being sprinkled on the good atmosphere… Volpi, who was the 9th hitter, also struck out after a full count, and his turn at bat came with two outs.

“Ball.”

“Ball.”

“Strike!”

I watched his balls and made a count of two balls, one strike,

‘It’s a change-up. ‘Body side.’

He eventually brought out a change-up.

‘Sweet, I don’t want to hit it because it’s fast.’

I thought for a moment whether I should wait because I had time.

‘… John Ahn!’

I felt his ball coming into the zone, and I quickly swung the bat.

Perfect!

‘Fuck, it was outside…’

But the moment I hit his ball, I realized it was outside the zone, and the low ball passed by the shortstop. I hit a hit, but it didn’t feel that good because I was aiming for a home run.

‘Well, that’s it, you have to do what you have to do.’

Although there were two outs, the batter who stood at bat was stopped. He was a batter who could call me home just by getting to second base, so I slowly began to widen the lead.

‘It’s a change-up.’

‘Okay.’

And his choice is a change-up. I slowly widened the lead, and the moment he threw the ball, I started running toward second base. And when I started sliding with my legs as usual, I felt the glove touching my thigh.

‘… Huh?’

“Out!”

It almost feels like it’s both bass and tag at the same time…

‘… Would you like to request a video?’

‘I’m sorry, I don’t know if I try. Because he is definitely dead.’

‘…’

Mr. Rossby was convinced, but perhaps he decided it was worth a try in the dugout, and Mattingly drew a square by hand. This means requesting a video review.

And I was able to immediately see how I was eliminated through the screen on the electronic signboard. The pitcher’s changeup was thrown almost like a pitch out, and the catcher almost stood up and caught the ball before throwing it to second base.

A quick change-up, lack of control, and luck that occurred when the catcher made the throw of his life, becoming a natural tag.

“And… Fuck. If I had known it would be like this, I would have gone in head first…”

“Ji. It’s even more amazing that this has been achieved at the same time. Be confident. Because the other person was lucky.”

Judge comforted me as I returned to the dugout, but what bothered me more was that my opponent was lucky. Although baseball is a sport of skill, it is also greatly influenced by the element of luck.

‘Sseuup, today’s game won’t be easy… ?’