Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 660 - 16: Perfect Debut

"I think the analytics teams from the other 29 Major League clubs will be busy starting today..."

Watching Lin Guanglai walk back from the pitcher's mound to the dugout after finishing another half inning on the camera screen, the American commentators started offering their praises and exclamations:

"How to break Lin's current 'fastball-forkball-forkball sinker' triple threat will probably become the main objective for hitters from various teams, especially those other teams in the American League East Division with the Yankees."

"After all, with the same release posture and trajectory in the early stage, unless you know what pitch the opponent is going to throw at the start, it's really hard to hit the ball—unless someone can decrypt the Yankees' signals while bypassing the extensive monitoring of the Major League and pass the corresponding information onto the field; but we all know that's impossible..."

"There's no movement in the Yankees' bullpen, looks like Coach Girardi is planning to let Lin pitch a complete game? Well, achieving a complete game shutout victory in your first Major League game indeed counts as a great achievement."

As the announcer spoke, the game was gradually reaching its end. The enthusiasm of the home team fans at Oriole Park had faded away, and most were deflated; some even chose to leave early, unwilling to witness their team starting off poorly.

The scoreboard in central field now shows a score of 6:0—thanks to Lin Guanglai's dominant performance on the mound, the initially cold-hitting Yankees batters have had ample time to find their groove in the game;

Lin Guanglai and Aaron Judge's consecutive homers instantly reignited the entire Yankees team's enthusiasm, allowing them to expand the lead with a wave of attacks, gradually ending the suspense of the game.

Coach Girardi has already started considering adjustments in the batting order:

Originally placing Lin Guanglai and Aaron Judge in the seventh and eighth spots was to consider their status as young players, afraid that they might struggle with the Major League pace and affect the team's overall offense;

But now, since both are performing so well at the plate, he, as a coach, naturally doesn't need to restrain himself anymore. Especially with the team's main shortstop Didi Gregorius suffering a shoulder injury during the Classic Tournament and out until next month, the team is already missing a critical bat.

Given the situation, putting more weight on Lin Guanglai and Aaron Judge to see whether they can lead from the top of the order isn't a bad idea—it's a tradition that the Yankees have, including Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, who both debuted under similar circumstances, made a name for themselves, and secured starting positions.

As Girardi was thinking, the top of the ninth inning had already ended:

Once the game entered garbage time, Girardi also made some adjustments to the lineup, allowing some promising young players to gain precious Major League exposure—and these youngsters did not disappoint Girardi's trust, securing another run in this half-inning, extending the Yankees' lead to 7 runs.

"Lin, just pitch normally, we'll keep the defense strong for you!"

"What do you mean relying on your defense? Lin doesn't even need your defense, he can strike them out himself!"

"Don't feel pressured, I believe you can definitely get the shutout in this game."

Before going on the field, Lin Guanglai's teammates were all trying to ease his stress, afraid that he'd make any mistakes under pressure and lose this almost guaranteed shutout;

But Lin Guanglai just glanced at them, then chuckled, "Hahaha, what are you guys doing? It's not like this is the World Series, it's just a regular season game, no need to be so tense..."

After speaking, Lin Guanglai stood up from his seat in the dugout and stretched, "Time to get on the field—this shutout, I've got it in the bag!"

In today's game, Lin Guanglai unquestionably delivered a top-class starting performance, only allowing 3 hits through eight innings—because of this, in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Baltimore Orioles' batting lineup will start the cycle from the top.

Once again, both Seth Smith and Craig Gentry failed to gain anything against Lin Guanglai: one strikeout, one groundball out, the start of this inning barely took 10 minutes, and Lin Guanglai already secured two of the three outs he needed, one step away from his first Major League win.

Standing in front of him now is Manny Machado, who held the third spot for the Orioles in this game, but unlike his previously arrogant demeanor, Machado cannot smile now.

When the TV broadcast focused on Machado, a row of stats appeared below him, showing his performance at the plate in this game: 3 at-bats, 0 hits, 2 strikeouts, 1 groundball out—it can be said, in terms of direct competition between pitcher and batter, Machado was utterly dominated by Lin Guanglai today.

As a highly anticipated young star in the Major League, Manny Machado can already foresee what kind of storm awaits him once this game ends: