Baseball: A Two-Way Player

Chapter 672 21: The Counterattack Begins Now (2)

Until the Yankees' leadoff hitter Brett Gardner walked into the batter's box, the commentators finally refocused on the game:

"Bottom of the fifth inning, the Yankees' lineup rotates again—wondering if they can seize the opportunity this time, not saying they will complete an epic comeback, but at least prevent this national spotlight battle from losing suspense too early..."

Gardner has been feeling quite good hitting against Charlie Morton today, with 1 hit and 1 hit-by-pitch walk in the first two at-bats, currently the only Yankees player who has reached base in both at-bats.

And in this entire game's third at-bat, Gardner capitalized on Morton's average endurance, which can't handle large innings, and once again hit a single from Morton, whose pitch count exceeded 80 balls before finishing the 5th inning:

His bat followed Morton's 82 mph curveball that landed in the strike zone's center, and he connected the ball with the tip of the bat; although he couldn't fully exert force, Gardner still sent the ball to the unguarded area between the Astros' left and center fielder, successfully advancing to first base.

Right after Gardner, the second batter up was the Yankees' current primary catcher, the 24-year-old Gary Sanchez. To make room for him, the Yankees specifically sent their former primary catcher, the well-liked Brian McCann, to the opposing Astros; and Sanchez's performance was quite decent, gradually adapting to his new role after over a month of the season.

Faced with Sanchez, whose offensive mode primarily consists of powerful pull hits mostly concentrating in left field, the Astros made targeted defensive adjustments, shifting most of the defense towards the left half of the field; after carefully adjusting, Morton quickly regained his control feel, immediately putting pressure through in-and-out pitches, obtaining a 0-2 absolute advantage.

After appropriately setting up with a bad ball, the pitcher-catcher duo of Charlie Morton and Brian McCann chose to continue pressuring Sanchez's inner corner, and faced with this potentially strikeout inner-corner ball, Sanchez did not choose to remain passive but launched an offensive.

The bat cut the incoming ball midsection, and the 97 mph fastball was hit by Sanchez towards center field direction; although still unable to fully exert power, the ball drop point was excellent, landing to form a single before Astros' center fielder Springer raced over.

At the beginning of the bottom of the fifth inning, the previously stagnant Yankees seemed to suddenly regain their form, continuously hitting singles with two batters, rapidly advancing to a no out, runners on first and second situation.

The long-silent Yankee Stadium finally became lively again, fans in the stands seemingly smelling the scent of something about to happen, enthusiastically applauding and cheering for their home team players with full volume; sitting in right field, some children wearing baseball gloves even began jumping up and down in place, warming up, possibly preparing to compete for the arriving home run ball.

As Lin Guanglai entered the left batter's box on the right side of home plate, in the broadcast camera, his current season's batting data appeared:

[DH No. 13 Lin Guanglai]

[Game stats: 1/2 (double, putout)]

[Season stats: Batting average .331 | Home runs 9 | RBIs 20]

As one who needs to both hit and pitch in dual swordsmanship, Lin Guanglai is not only leading the American League Cy Young Award list, ahead of players like the Indians' Corey Kluber and the Red Sox's Chris Sale, but performing remarkably in batting as well, being the team's top in batting average, second only to the specialist Aaron Judge in home runs and RBIs, already the Yankees' absolute core in both offense and defense.

Since his teammates have created such an excellent hitting situation for him, Lin Guanglai knows he absolutely cannot waste this opportunity: as long as he can hit a three-run homer from Charlie Morton, the deficit will shrink to 6 runs; with the game only in the fifth inning, six runs are entirely catchable!

Considering Charlie Morton's pitch count is almost reaching 90 balls, the most rational method would be playing a war of attrition, waiting for a mistake pitch for a decisive victory; but Lin Guanglai is not planning to do so this at-bat—he plans to swing on the first pitch, using powerful pull hits to send the ball to right field!

On the pitcher's mound, Charlie Morton is not having an easy time either: though the team is leading by a wide margin, he has consumed too many pitches, and by now his suppression power has significantly declined compared to the first three innings; yet the problem is he must pitch long enough to earn the win, so he has no choice but to persevere.

First, he turned around and glanced at Gardner near second base, who had already assumed an immediate rush-to-third posture; in his peripheral vision, Sanchez at first base was doing the same. Only at the end did he redirect focus back to the hitter, gently nodding to the catcher before rapidly launching the ball.

Charlie Morton's pitching stance is a standard three-quarter sidearm, resembling a near Hall of Fame caliber pitcher, two-time Cy Young, career 2000K+200-win Roy Halladay, but Lin Guanglai has no mind to focus on the opponent's delivery actions, all his concentration is fixed on the baseball closing in.

The baseball jumped from Morton's fingertips, rotating fiercely towards Lin Guanglai's outside corner. From the pitcher's viewpoint, Morton's thought was most likely avoiding Lin Guanglai's favored inside pitches, enticing a whiff with an outside corner ball on the strike zone edge.

Yet the problem lies in the combination of fatigue and mental shifts causing extreme control errors for Charlie Morton—the pitch meant to be pressed on the outside corner edge of the strike zone, at most deviating by a ball position, ultimately landed in the middle of the 4th and 5th squares, essentially missing by a wide margin—this was a mistake pitch!

How could Lin Guanglai, who was already prepared, miss such an opportunity? His gaze sharpened slightly, his entire body rapidly responded, lower body driving the upper, channeling all body strength into the bat, precisely and fiercely hitting the ball center.

"Wham—!!!" The baseball violently hit by huge force quickly ascended, rapidly flying towards Yankee Stadium's right field.

"Look at this ball—Lin Guanglai, precision hit the baseball! The baseball flies to the right side, let's see what happens!!" As the commentator passionately narrated, right field Yankee fans swiftly stood up, stirring the entire audience to release the loudest cheer since the start.

Moments later, as the Astros' right fielder Josh Reddick gave up chasing the ball, the baseball directly flew into the second row of seats, the scene's cheering reached today's climax—

"Hasta la vista—!!! The three-run homer closes the score gap!!! Charlie Morton's pitch was completely read, this home run's exit velocity even reached a terrifying 115 mph (approximately 185km/h)!"

Looking at Statcast system's latest data, various broadcasters' commentators couldn't help but exclaim, "This is Lin's 10th home run of the season, and the 115 mph exit velocity also makes him the 5th MLB player this season to achieve this feat—this young man is truly amazing!"

Compared to those impartial official commentators, Yankee fan anchors on online live streaming platforms were even more excited, their loud shouting resembling the team already winning this game—

"To hell with the Astros, the Yankees' comeback starts now!!!"