In the broadcast footage, Beltran stood frozen, unable to even make a swinging motion, his face full of disbelief. He quickly glanced toward his own team area at first base, eager to know what happened: "How could it be a fastball?! Isn't this the signal for forkball?"

Feeling the dozens of eyes almost simultaneously fixed on him, the staff responsible for decoding the signals was on the verge of tears: "I don't know why this ball turned into a fastball, clearly... clearly the signal wasn't like this?!"

Seeing his teammates in the dugout shrugging at him, Beltran's face visibly darkened; he turned his head again toward the pitcher's mound and thought to himself:

"So, did the opponent realize the signals were cracked and temporarily change the pitch signals?" But he quickly dismissed this thought, "No, no, even if the opponent suspects we might be stealing signals, they shouldn't know the specific method, this is not the time to scare ourselves."

Beltran stepped out of the batter's box for the third time, spending more time this round retying his shoelaces and adjusting the Velcro on his gloves—a veteran's customary delaying tactic, disrupting the pitcher's rhythm while giving himself more time to steady.

On the pitcher's mound, Lin Guanglai, who had been closely watching the Astros' players, naturally caught the fleeting panic on Beltran's face and his glance toward his own team area—in the situation of already suspecting something, this seemingly innocuous series of actions increasingly looked like the guilty display of someone with something to hide. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

In the at-bat against Beltran, the Yankees' counter-strategy to the Astros' signal-stealing behavior seemed quite simple—give the Astros what they want to see and then do the opposite.

First, relying on Lin Guanglai's strong and powerful pitch quality to trap Beltran, then wisely apply reverse thinking, inverting the original fastball and breaking ball signal to lead the Astros into making wrong judgments, while also checking if the opponent is really cheating.

And now, not only did Lin Guanglai earn two strikes, but he also confirmed one fact:

Though it's unknown what method they used, the Astros must have some means to capture the Yankees' signals and quickly relay them to the batter on the field via trash can banging—nothing else can explain Beltran's premature starts on those last two pitches.

Now, with an absolute advantage of no balls and two strikes, and having uncovered the cheating signal-stealing activity, Lin Guanglai didn't want to prolong the night and prepared to quickly conclude the duel with Beltran and end this long first inning.

Gary Sanchez signaled for a straightforward sign this time, calling for a high four-seam fastball inside; meanwhile, the Astros' team zone remained silent, just as in the first at-bat.

Lin Guanglai started his pitching motion, lifting his leg and turning his body, whipping his arm—just milliseconds before release, he slightly adjusted the pressure on his fingers and the release point, sending the inside high fastball to sink slightly to Beltran's inside low.

Facing this ball sinking toward his wrist, and still adhering to the signals from the team zone, opting for an early start to bet on an inside high fastball, Beltran tried to adjust his batting position but it was too late, the baseball sailed past his bat, heading toward home plate.

This ball could fool Beltran, as Lin Guanglai had already anticipated; now what concerned him was whether Sanchez in the catcher's seat had the same mental alignment, whether he could catch the baseball.

Gary Sanchez admitted that at first sight of the sudden change in the ball's path, he indeed panicked and was momentarily helpless; but in that split-second, he recalled the promise made to Lin Guanglai on the mound:

"I definitely won't miss the catch!" Nearly shouting his thoughts aloud, Gary Sanchez quickly adjusted his catching stance in response to the incoming ball, cleanly snaring it in his glove before it hit the ground.

Got it!

Three outs, switch sides!

"Lin, got the last one!" On the way back to the dugout after the half inning, Gary Sanchez first shouted excitedly, then complained to Lin Guanglai beside him: "But Lin, don't act on your own next time, at least let me know first... that last ball, I thought you mispitched, really scared me to death."

"Nice job, Gary," Lin Guanglai praised his partner, then turned back once more toward the Astros' team area:

Earlier standing outside of the team's zone, Alex Cora was nowhere to be seen, and many of the Astros' players preparing to take the field turned away after meeting Lin Guanglai's gaze, avoiding eye contact, even Jose Altuve, who previously had some rapport with Lin Guanglai.

Lin Guanglai shook his head and said something to Gary Sanchez which seemed senseless to him:

"Some always believe they've found a shortcut, but little do they realize that the god of baseball will ultimately favor those who respect the game itself."

"Champions? Hmph, won't let you win a single game!"