Baseball: A Two-Way Player

Chapter 725 43: Three Homers in One Game, Reverse Sweep from 2-3!

In this series, as the head coach of the Indians, Frankner truly lives up to his legendary reputation; in terms of personnel management and on-field command, he's done almost everything a coach can do to the utmost;

But the problem is, sometimes the result of the game is not easily resolved by pre-game preparations and simple in-game adjustments; ultimately, it's up to the players' performance on the field.

And clearly, facing this half-inning that could decide if the team's entire season efforts would go down the drain, Cody Allen couldn't withstand the pressure: although he initially struck out Starlin Castro, he was later hit by Aaron Hicks and Todd Frazier with a base hit and a walk respectively, allowing the Yankees to swiftly occupy scoring positions with one out.

Seeing the game gradually slipping out of control, Frankner couldn't sit still anymore and decisively stood up from the bench in the players' area, walking into the center of the field and the pitcher's mound with Karaway beside him.

In the home team's bullpen, all pitchers including No. 2 starter Klasek were warming up, and in such critical moments, using the starter as a closer had become an option.

After a long talk with players including the catcher and the infield, and receiving strong assurances from everyone, Frankner decided to give Cody Allen one more at-bat—if he could eliminate Gardner who was about to bat or catch a double play to end the half-inning directly, that would be ideal; but if he was hit again, he wouldn't hesitate to change pitchers.

And at this at-bat, Cody Allen and Brett Gardner seemed to be at loggerheads, their confrontation lasting quite some time with the pitch count climbing upwards: 8 pitches, 9 pitches, 10 pitches... persisted through a total of 14 pitches, ultimately Gardner successfully caught the inside high fastball from Allen at the number one position close inside, sending the ball to the front of the right field, occupying first base and turning the situation on the field into bases loaded.

"Change pitchers." Frankner didn't hesitate at all and immediately raised his hand to make the decision: Cody Allen left the mound gloomily, replaced by Joe Smith, whom the Indians had acquired mid-season to bolster the bullpen, a right-handed pitcher whose pitches primarily consisted of breaking balls, mostly throwing a sinker averaging 88.2 mph and a slider averaging 79.8 mph.

"Aaron Judge, he's stepping into the batter's box again..." Michael Kay at this point no longer hoped for any contribution from Judge whose form had plummeted; his only thought now was hoping Judge wouldn't hit into a double play, even if it was just a high fly ball, leaving the chance to the next batter, Lin Guanglai.

Whether it was heaven hearing his prayer or not, the result of this at-bat turned out exactly as he envisaged: in a full count situation, Judge was pressed by Joe Smith's low sinker that he couldn't muster strength, his lofting ball wobbling and drifting just high but not far, finally being caught out by Lindor in the vacant ground in front of the infield and left-central field.

"Phew——!!!" Indians fans in the stands could at last breathe a little easier, but upon seeing the figure getting ready to bat next, their fragile hearts started pounding again.

"What do you say, Terry, continue with the intentional walk tactic?" As the game reached this point, Karaway couldn't make up his mind either, he turned his gaze toward Frankner not far in front of him, asking this question.

This time, Frankner took even longer to stay silent; eventually he sighed, shook his head, his gaze promptly becoming resolute:

"Even though it's our central lineup batting next, but facing Chapman, can we really say we can score more than 2 runs off him? We won't intentionally walk this at-bat!"

Standing outside the batter's box, Lin Guanglai's gaze always focused on the direction of the Indians' dugout, even after being in the batter's box for a while without seeing any gesture for an intentional walk from the opposing coach, at this moment he finally realized his chance, had come!

The game has reached such a dead-end and inexorability that none of the Yankees or Indians players could sit still: all the players and nearly 40,000 spectators in the stands unanimously rose from their seats, ready to watch the outcome of this at-bat.

In the batter's box, Lin Guanglai appeared very relaxed, just gently shaking the bat in his hand, his focus locked on the baseball in the pitcher's hand.

On the mound, substitute pitcher Joe Smith, though seemingly calm, was betrayed by the fine sweat beads on his forehead and the gulping motion, revealing his current tension—

Lin Guanglai's continuous homers against Kluber were overly explosive, also unconsciously imprinting a mental seal on the Indians' players; facing such a batter, Joe Smith inevitably felt short-breathed, involuntarily doubting whether he could withstand the opponent.

Catcher Roberto Perez sent the instruction to him to throw the ball towards the outside low corner of the strike zone, opting for the sinker with which he had the most confidence—the outside low location was analyzed by big data as the safest position, and the sinker could effectively suppress the batter from hitting a ground ball, indeed a data-driven optimal choice.