Countryside Ace

Chapter 23 : Me? (3)

Me? (3)

Honestly, I was scared.

But I still thought I wasn't guilty. After all, my opponent was Baek Jung-woong.

No less than Baek Jung-woong, the world's number one at hitting Seo Ye-sung's pitches.

I was intimidated, but my pitching was good.

I know that guy doesn't actually hit my pitches well anyway, so I was just throwing with the thought that if he hits it, then let him hit it.

On the third pitch, I tried a bit of a trick.

That probably wouldn't work again next time. Because Baek Jung-woong is that kind of person.

But still, isn't it okay to be a little happy that I struck out Baek Jung-woong on three pitches in my first at-bat against him?

* * *

[(LIVE) Gangwon Miners 2 : 0 Busan Stars]

- Stars' fourth batter, Baek Jung-woong, struck out swinging on three pitches

- Seo Ye-sung, 1.1 innings, no runs allowed (1K)

└ I'm freaking out, seriously

└ Who the hell is that guy, roaring after one strikeout?

└ For real, you'd think he escaped a bases-loaded jam

└ Damn, hoon-jung threw 32 pitches to get through one inning, but Seo Ye-sung throws three pitches in one inning and fans Baek Jung-woong on three pitches?

└ Anyone who compares Hoon-jung to Busan's Seo Tae-seung, I'll wring their neck

└ In front of Seo Tae-seung's son, "the next Seo Tae-seung"

LOL

- Stars' fifth batter, first baseman Alex Hosmer (4 hits, 4 HRs in 22 AB)

- Season BA .222 OBP .222

└ Here comes the power hitter

└ Let's go for homers in back-to-back games, damn it

└ Even Baek Jung-woong struck out on three pitches, you think you can hit him?

* * *

The next batter was a player familiar to Seo Ye-sung.

A veteran foreign player who had played for the Stars for several seasons and was quite popular.

His batting average was low, but he would hit in the high 30s in home runs and had a lot of memorable moments as a slugger.

After roaring when he got Baek Jung-woong out, Seo Ye-sung had regained his composure.

He knew exactly how to handle this type of foreign batter.

'Just throw breaking balls to this guy.'

The season had only just started, and even though he was a new addition this year, this much was probably common knowledge among all teams.

He only had 4 hits this season so far, and all were home runs.

Three were off four-seamers, the other was off a breaking ball that just happened to hang dead-center in the zone.

'Slider.'

The catcher's sign was for a slider. Seo Ye-sung nodded immediately.

A left-handed pitcher's slider is like the ultimate weapon against left-handed hitters.

Especially against a lefty like this who swings from his heels without ever looking back.

Seo Ye-sung's slider soared through the air.

The bat swung up from below as if it would shatter the ball, but the slider, as if it had eyes, broke across away from the bat.

"Strike!"

Alex Hosmer clicked his tongue and glared at Seo Ye-sung. He wasn't the type to take long getting ready at the plate.

The next pitch was also a slider sign, but a bit different.

A sweeper—less drop, more horizontal movement.

It was his first time trying it in a game, but so was the changeup.

Alex Hosmer, who stood as close as possible to both the pitcher and home plate, was surely looking for only the slider in Yoon Bong-wan's judgment.

But what about this one?

Yoon Bong-wan thought, "It'll break even more to the side than you expect."

Of course, if it was a mistake pitch, it could be dangerous.

But if you're afraid of mistake pitches, you can't pitch at all.

Whoosh.

"Strike!"

A 144 km/h sweeper.

Alex Hosmer took a huge swing, spinning like a top.

He tried to swing before the ball broke, but it broke away much further than he expected.

It missed the zone by a solid three balls, but Alex Hosmer whiffed gloriously.

All around, people erupted in frustration.

"Hey! Watch the pitch a little before you swing!"

Yoon Bong-wan was pretty excited. It had been a while since he'd caught someone like this.

A guy who does as told, trusts his own pitches, and picks up on his catcher's intentions.

For the third pitch, Yoon Bong-wan called for a changeup—a sign to drop it low.

But the pitcher shook him off and called for a slider instead.

'What the heck is this kid doing?'

Three straight sliders was a little much, even so.

But the catcher nodded. Did he have something else to show?

Seo Ye-sung brought his arm in and threw with all his might.

The motion can change if you lose strength, but he was overflowing with it at the moment.

The ball left Seo Ye-sung's hand and came in hard, almost like a four-seam fastball.

Alex Hosmer, sensing "this is it," swung hard without any hesitation, despite the count being 0-2.

Yoon Bong-wan's eyes widened.

Wasn't that supposed to be a slider sign, but... was that a four-seam?

Whoooosh.

But the ball broke in sharply at a small angle.

The batter blinked in confusion as he lost his balance during the swing, and Yoon Bong-wan felt a weird tingling in his hand at the totally unexpected pitch.

"Strike! Out!"

The scoreboard flashed 150 km/h.

Yoon Bong-wan barely resisted the urge to run to the mound and ask, "What did you just throw?"

* * *

Crack!

The sixth batter, designated hitter Ji Yong-hoon, helpfully nicked my first pitch into a pop-up to the catcher.

Just 10 pitches thrown through two innings.

The infielders clapped as I clenched my fist in excitement.

As second baseman Woo Hyun-geun was about to say something to me, Yoon Bong-wan grabbed me in a headlock.

"What was that, earlier?"

"Sorry?"

"The third pitch to Alex Hosmer."

"Oh."

It was a high-velocity slider. Not something I throw often, but I felt like it would work, so I tried it.

"It was a slider."

"A fast one?"

"Yes."

"You didn't throw that in practice—why now?"

I answered with his arm around my neck.

"Uh... I thought it'd work, so I used it."

Yoon Bong-wan paused at my answer.

He wore a somewhat dumbfounded look, but two voices started shouting, rescuing me.

"Hey! Yoon Bong-wan! Let go of our ace's neck already!"

One was the head coach.

"What are you doing, bullying my nephew? Hyung, let him go! You'll kill the kid."

The other was center fielder Kim Jae-beom, who called me his nephew.

"This crazy kid..."

"Hey, if he gives up a run, choke him then. Leave him be for now."

"Should I?"

Yoon Bong-wan let go of my neck and put his arm around my shoulder.

"Sorry. I just thought you'd catch them all, even if I pitch fast... but I couldn't exactly shout that I was going to throw it fast."

"It's not something to apologize for. You did well. But that was a foreign player, right? He probably doesn't understand Korean, just shout."

"Oh, should I?"

Yoon Bong-wan let out a weird laugh.

My father told me off for picking up strange tricks, only to be scolded by the head coach himself.

"Stop talking nonsense and massage our baby's shoulders!"

Suddenly promoted to the head coach's "our baby", I pretended not to hear and just sat down. Bradshaw chewed gum and asked me,

"150 km/h, what's that in miles? That's about 93, 94?"

"I think so."

"You can throw a 94-mph slider but you wanted to learn a sweeper, you damn kid?"

I can throw my four-seamer even faster.

People always ask why I bother learning other pitches when I can throw that hard...

"To survive."

I wasn't the genius people thought I was.

To survive, I needed to learn and try all sorts of things.

Harold Bradshaw looked at me with a face that said he didn't get it at all.

Not confident I could explain, I just grinned.

"Next time, teach me the cutter too. Yours is really good."

Bradshaw snorted.

"Damn brat. You're trying to steal all my secrets."

* * *

Neither the offensive catcher, nor the Stars' touted slugger prospect, nor their ninth batter shortstop could do much against the Miners' rookie lefty.

Stars' starter Lee Hoon-jung recovered after a messy first inning, holding it together through the 2nd to 4th innings.

He still felt shaky, but he allowed no runs in those frames.

But Lee Hoon-jung's pitch count broke 90 in the 4th inning, so the bullpen—considered the weakest in the two major leagues—was preparing to get loose.

"Let's shake things up! Don't let them cruise next inning!"

The Stars' hitting coach encouraged his batters.

Once the momentum is gone, it's hard to get it back. Worse, they were being held perfect through three innings.

While the crowd remained cold, the passionate cheer captain did his best to lift the atmosphere.

"Come on, everyone! Let's give our players some strength! We've been through the lineup once—let's do better! Here we go again! Number one! Batter! Jo! Kyu! Chan!"

Despite his efforts, the crowd wasn't responding.

Jo Kyu-chan stepped into the batter's box, while the 190cm rookie southpaw starter scraped dirt from his spikes and reached for the rosin bag on the mound, his face showing annoyance.

The team's passionate fans watched every game as if holding a bomb which could go off at any time.

Right now, they'd been stifling their anger through a perfect three innings, but they were ready to turn that anger to joy if the Stars started fighting back.

Crack!

"Woooooooah!"

"Jo! Kyu! Chan! Jo! Kyu! Chan!"

Before the cheer captain could start Jo Kyu-chan's cheer, the play was over.

He awkwardly poked at a ball headed outside the zone, and the hit barely cleared the first baseman's head for a Texas leaguer single.

"Kyu-chan! We believed in you!"

"About time you hit!"

"Ha! You guys are finished now!"

It was a lucky hit, but the Stars fans cheered as if they'd taken the lead.

And Jo Kyu-chan is one of the fastest runners in the KBO.

The bench signaled for a stolen base. Fans didn't know, but were hoping for it.

That's Jo Kyu-chan for you. He makes fans clutch their neck in frustration, yet brings a mysterious sense of hope.

But.

"Out!"

No Stars fan expected what happened next.

"..."

"... What the?"

On the first pickoff.

Kyu-chan's lead was very aggressive, but Seo Ye-sung's pickoff move was just too sharp and fast for a rookie.

First baseman Park Dae-yong's quick tag made the umpire pump his fist, and the moment the Stars fans realized what happened, anger erupted.

"Jo Kyu-chan! You bonehead!"

"Kyu-chan, are you crazy?"

"Hey! Jo Kyu-chan!"

The silence was short, the anger long.

Seo Ye-sung, expression unchanged, returned to the mound prepared to face the next batter.

* * *

Baseball seems impossible to break into, but then suddenly a hole appears.

And if you don't seize that chance, you lose your way all over again.

It's true for any team, but the Stars were especially sensitive to those mood swings.

When Jo Kyu-chan, their first hit of the game, was picked off, the Stars' energy collapsed, and by the sixth inning, I was still cruising with no runs allowed.

"Want me to pull you? You tired?"

My Father asked, but I was certain he didn't mean it.

"No one in the bullpen is warming up, you know?"

"Oh? You've got some awareness for a rookie?"

He chuckled and spoke again.

"We might need the bullpen a lot tomorrow, so just finish the shutout."

Current score: 5 to 0.

After Lee Hoon-jung allowed two runs in four innings and was pulled, the Stars' bullpen gave up three more.

I took a deep breath as I sat.

I'd allowed only two hits so far, and I was happy that I hadn't walked a single batter.

Actually, I almost gave up one walk. It was 3-0, and my changeup missed low.

But Baek Jung-woong mishit it for a grounder to second.

Two showdowns: one strikeout, one grounder.

Only two times, but it felt like the mental wall between us had crumbled a bit.

If I kept doing well against him, maybe even that "nemesis" label would go away.

Even if I'd been the one to apply it, not anyone else.

* * *

Bottom of the seventh, score 5–0.

Watching Seo Ye-sung strike out the first batter with a 155 km/h high fastball, head coach Song Moon-jung took a deep breath.

The bullpen was all but shut down. Some guys would slowly warm up, but no one was seriously getting ready.

You'd usually pull a rookie starter in his debut out of consideration.

'He's still throwing 155 in the seventh.'

And also—

'His pitch count isn't even at 70 yet.'

No need to invent a reason to pull him.

'You have to package future ace starters well, after all.'

He struck out the second batter, too.

Righties had trouble, but to lefties he was practically the Grim Reaper.

He'd thrown three kinds of sliders. The lefties were probably cursing him out in private.

'Heh. Let's see how he handles Baek Jung-woong.'

The best pure hitter. So far, two chances, two wins.

It wasn't luck. The first was pure dominance, the second, Baek Jung-woong collapsed on his own.

The battle ended simply. First pitch ball, second pitch contact.

Crack!

It was a well-hit ball, but third baseman Han Sung-yun made a diving grab to his side.

For someone called a defensive liability at third, Han Sung-yun making that kind of play was impressive.

Song Moon-jung didn't smile.

'There's nothing like fungoes to turn boys into men.'

But inwardly, he was smiling.

If Han Sung-yun hadn't had hitting talent, he wouldn't have given him a second look.

But there was definitely talent, so he'd worked him hard all winter.

Another third baseman might have made the play more easily, but what Han Sung-yun did was plenty.

He even remembered personally driving the team's newly signed center fielder hard this year.

Actually, Han Sung-yun hadn't even had things that rough compared to that guy.

Both the one hitting and the one fielding fungoes—neither wanted to say "let's quit" because of pride, so they practiced late into the night.

'It's already been ten years since then.'

Next up, Alex Hosmer, who had struck out both times so far.

Seo Ye-sung had reduced the Stars' foreign slugger to helplessness with only sliders.

Crack!

But this time, first-pitch swing.

The ball came in a bit over the middle.

The drive to the outfield looked threatening, enough for Stars fans to leap to their feet.

But center fielder Kim Jae-beom sprinted alongside the fence and turned what could have been a double into an out ending the seventh.

The starter's pitch count was now at 75.

'Ho ho.'

A slight grin formed on Song Moon-jung's lips. He suddenly barked at the pitching coach.

"Hey! Pitching coach! If you try to pull the pitcher, at least massage his shoulders a bit first!"