Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 516 - 108: Night of a Career

The forkball that Lin Guanglai threw, as if possessed by spirits, dealt a huge blow to the Giant players:

After he pitched that ball and struck out Leslie Anderson, many of the Giant Team’s batters became too indifferent to even put up symbolic resistance;

And their almost apathetic performance was not even blamed by the Giant fans in the stands—because these fans too were deeply trapped in unspeakable shock!

The reason is actually quite simple: the players serving the Giant Team are naturally the elites among their peers during their growth stages, the Babe Ruths of their own stories, forming their own set of baseball philosophies in the process;

And now, with the appearance of this groundbreaking forkball, century-old baseball knowledge has been shattered, leading to the collapse of their worldviews—after all, when the common sense that has influenced you for twenty or thirty years suddenly collapses, it’s difficult for anyone to remain calm.

In the broadcast studio, the commentator glanced at the statistics in hand, eyes brightened, "Today’s game has already progressed to the 6th inning, and Lin Guanglai has struck out 12 batters so far; and the home team Giant Team’s hit count is still—"

"Zero!"

After presenting such data to the audience in front of the TV, the commentator didn’t extend the topic further—as an experienced commentator who has witnessed the crazy antics of baseball fans, he doesn’t want to be the culprit if Lin Guanglai fails in a no-hit challenge.

The inability of their batters to open up the game for a long time also impacted Sugano Tomoyuki, the starting pitcher for the Giant today:

In the top of the seventh inning, the SoftBank Team lineup was reset, and Nakamura Akira successfully fulfilled his responsibility as the leadoff batter, hitting a double towards second base that penetrated the Giant Team’s infield defense, seizing the opportunity to get to first base.

Upon seeing this, Akiyama Koji quickly instructed the subsequent batter, Imamiya Kenta, to use a bunt to help teammates advance; with the help of small ball tactics, SoftBank used the cost of one out to help Nakamura Akira get into the scoring zone.

With increasingly outstanding performance this season, Yanagida Yuuki was also promoted from the previous seventh batter to the third batter by Akiyama Koji, replacing the resting Nakagawa Seiichi today.

And he did not disappoint the supervisor’s trust: by constantly pressuring Sugano Tomoyuki, Yanagida Yuuki forced the Giant Team’s pitcher-catcher collaboration to commit a serious error. Under heavy pressure, Sugano Tomoyuki threw the ball completely contrary to Kobayashi Masashi’s position, causing an unexpected wild pitch from Kobayashi Masashi. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

The area behind the home plate in Tokyo Dome is large; once a wild pitch occurs, the opponent can advance at least two bases; naturally, Nakamura Akira with his swift legs graciously accepted this gift, rushing to step on home plate before Kobayashi Masashi retrieved the ball.

The score gap continued to widen, and with a score of 3 to 0 plus the Giant Team’s lineup performance akin to sleepwalking tonight, even the most optimistic Giant fans might be left speechless.

When people are extremely frustrated, they naturally want to vent a bit, so during this time, the beer girls in the Tokyo Dome stands became the busiest: youthful and attractive silhouettes shuttle back and forth in the stands, constituting a landscape.

Looking at his listless players in front of him, the Giant Team’s supervisor, Hara Tatsunori, was just about to start scolding when someone else beat him to the punch in doing what he intended.

"All of you, lift your heads!"

While the Giant players were still immersed in the huge shock brought by that ball, suddenly a roar echoed in their ears, the sound cracking like thunder, hurting everyone’s eardrums.

Looking up, indeed it was that familiar face of authority and intimidation: the captain of the Giant Team, Abe Shinjiro, was standing from the bench, sweeping his unyielding and commanding gaze at everyone—the usually sharp and calm eyes now burned with a fury almost like an inferno.

"Can lowering your head bring runners home? Can averting your eyes hit that forkball?!"

"Don’t forget, the game isn’t over yet! You’ve been playing ball for twenty or thirty years, do you still need me to remind you that a baseball game begins in the ninth inning with two outs? Are you really willing to become the backdrop of that kid’s no-hit game?"

As his words fell, Abe Shinjiro walked to the center of the bench, like a male lion having its territory invaded, continuing to gaze over his teammates.

"The game isn’t over, as long as the final out hasn’t been made, we still have a chance! Just imagine, if we surrender like this, how will tomorrow’s headline read? ’Giant Army defeated without a fight, losing both the game and their pride’? Are you willing to endure such ridicule for at least a month?"

"I, Abe Shinjiro, absolutely cannot!!"

Abe Shinjiro picked up a bat from the side, then fiercely pointed it toward the pitcher’s mound in the center of the field, "Now, get rid of those embarrassing expressions!"