Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 390 - 39: Reunion at the Plate

After Lin Guanglai and Honda Yuichi executed a beautiful hit-and-run play in the top of the third inning, narrowing the score gap to 2-1, the rest of the SoftBank Team’s lineup quickly launched an offensive.

The third batter, Nakagawa Seiichi, hit a single, further pressuring the Rakuten infield defense and also sent Honda Yuichi from second base to third base—still with no outs!

Even if Tanaka Masahiro suddenly chose to speed up, it was to no avail. With a significant advantage in hand, the SoftBank Team relied on the following batters to hit a sacrifice fly and brought Honda Yuichi home from third base, tying the score at 2-2.

Seeing their lineup suddenly explode and tie the game, Akiyama Koji on the third base dugout cheered enthusiastically; on the other side, Rakuten’s manager Hoshino Senichi looked grimly at Iwasaki Tataro, who had just made a crucial fielding error, clearly dissatisfied with his performance.

After this half-inning ended, Lin Guanglai specially paid attention to Iwasaki Tataro as the Rakuten players left the field—seeing him being scolded harshly by Hoshino Senichi as soon as they returned to the dugout, and then disappearing from the public eye, Lin felt a chill down his spine, recalling the rumor circulating among professional players:

As a legendary coach in Nippon Professional Baseball, Hoshino Senichi was a prime example of the Showa-style manager: bold and generous, never hesitant to reward players who performed well, both materially and spiritually.

But likewise, for players who made foolish mistakes in games, he would punish them on the spot—it was rumored that Hoshino Senichi would take the erring players to a hidden spot behind the dugout and slap them, and some players were reportedly slapped into temporary amnesia.

This strategy of clear rewards and penalties surprisingly yielded considerable results, as many players who had been slapped by the legendary coach later became famous players and expressed gratitude for Hoshino Senichi’s guidance.

When the two reappeared in public, from Lin Guanglai’s perspective, Iwasaki Tataro’s face was indeed a bit red, indicating he had probably suffered a lot—making Lin feel a bit sympathetic for him.

But soon, Akiyama Koji and the SoftBank players who had been cheering were no longer laughing: in the bottom of the third inning, the first batter up was Iwasaki Tataro, who had just been slapped, and he started off with a hit from Oonari Kenji!

A while later—

"4-2! As soon as SoftBank had tied the game, Rakuten responded quickly—starting with Iwasaki Tataro’s opening hit, Rakuten widened the score gap again to 2 points!"

After running back to score, this inning’s hero, Iwasaki Tataro, immediately ran to Hoshino Senichi, looking like a child eager to show off to his parents; and the delighted Hoshino Senichi did not hesitate to praise him, repeatedly patting his shoulder for his performance.

"Perhaps this is what they call charisma, willing to go all out even when punished..." Lin Guanglai thought.

Shaking his head, he refocused on the game at hand—for the SoftBank players, this match’s situation had once again turned unfavorable; especially after working so hard to tie the score, only to lose it again, which was the most dispiriting situation.

Meanwhile, Tanaka Masahiro, angry after conceding 2 points, delivered 5 strikeouts in the next two innings, ensuring the score remained unchanged; for SoftBank, only Lin Guanglai managed to hit the ball, but he was still thrown out before reaching first base, failing to get on base.

In the top of the sixth inning, SoftBank launched another offensive: after Lahai’er was struck out, starting from the sixth batter Yanagida Yuuki, SoftBank hit three consecutive singles, closing the score gap to one point;

Then, with two outs, Lin Guanglai followed and drew a walk against Tanaka Masahiro—filling all three bases for SoftBank again.

Unfortunately, Honda Yuichi hit Tanaka Masahiro’s Breaking ball into a line drive towards first base, which Rakuten’s first baseman Casey McGehee caught just before it hit the ground, ending the inning.

After pitching scoreless in the seventh inning, Hoshino Senichi replaced Tanaka Masahiro: Tanaka Masahiro started the game pitching 7 innings, achieving 8 strikeouts, conceding 3 runs, and earning 2 points of self-blame, still contributing an excellent starting performance.

Watching the figure walking off the mound, receiving the cheers of the home audience, Lin Guanglai had mixed feelings:

In this match, he faced Tanaka Masahiro four times, resulting in two outs and two walks, seemingly an even matchup;

But Lin Guanglai was still quite bothered by it—while a 50% on-base rate was good, he hadn’t managed to hit a single off the "Divine Son" in the seven innings, which was hard to accept for someone with high standards like Lin Guanglai.

However, these were matters for post-game reflection; for the SoftBank Team and Lin Guanglai now, their immediate priority was to strive to tie the score.

In the top of the ninth inning, Lin Guanglai was the first to bat for his fifth at-bat of the game.

But this time, his opponent was no longer Tanaka Masahiro, but Rakuten’s relief pitcher Aoyama Koji.

This pitcher, with fastballs and sliders as his core weapons, had not suffered any major injuries in nearly 10 years of his career. During his time as a reliever, he secured numerous saves, being a trusted guardian for the Rakuten players and fans.

But from Lin Guanglai’s personal perspective, Aoyama Koji’s pressure wasn’t quite comparable to Tanaka Masahiro.

Facing Aoyama Koji’s pitches, Lin Guanglai continued his recent good form, hitting his first base hit of the game—a rare triple in Miyagi Stadium!

With no outs and a runner on third, the subsequent events unfolded naturally: Honda Yuichi sent the ball to the outfield, as the baseball flew into the Rakuten outfielder’s glove, Lin Guanglai sprinted towards home plate.

After a fierce competition—

"Game over! Iwasaki Shou struck out Matsui Jatou, securing his first win of the season!"

"In the top of the ninth inning, Lin Guanglai’s spectacular triple ignited SoftBank’s counterattack, as Aoyama Koji couldn’t withstand the pressure, collapsing under SoftBank’s consecutive attacks!"

"In today’s game, although Tanaka did not take the loss, Rakuten was defeated by SoftBank by just one point—this was the first time Rakuten lost in a game started by the Divine Son!"

"It’s now time for the post-game interviews, let’s see what Lin, one of today’s victorious contributors, has to say—"

Facing the flashing cameras, Lin Guanglai expressed his true thoughts about the game:

"The team won, and as a member of the entire group I am very happy, it’s well-deserved for everyone, and I hope this victory satisfies our fans and helps the team enter a better state before the exchange match begins."

"But regarding my personal performance, I wasn’t particularly satisfied: against Senior Tanaka, although I drew two walks, I didn’t manage to hit any singles—if I could have gotten hits earlier, maybe the game wouldn’t have been so difficult."

"Senior Tanaka is a strong opponent, perhaps the strongest in our country; I hope to have the chance to compete against him again in the future."

"Next time we meet, I hope to give the senior a loss."