Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 467 - 86: Real Men Never Look Back at Explosions (Part 2)
Akiyama Koji pondered for a moment, as if he had made some kind of decision, and then spoke with a hint of finality:
"Before the game, we said 100 pitches, so it will be 100 pitches—unless we can widen the point difference to the point where the opponent can't catch up, as long as the pitch count isn't up to 100, he will keep pitching!"
"Mr. Oishi, haven't you noticed yet? If he just wanted to fulfill the usual duties of a starting pitcher, Guanglai could easily give it his all, steadily finishing six to seven innings, then exit the game with honor. Even if we lose in the end, he wouldn't be the one criticized after the game; but he chose to pitch like today, clearly conserving energy to cover more innings."
"Although Guanglai seems to have an unassuming personality and gets along well with everyone, he's actually a very proud kid, especially confident in his skills in baseball—having known him for so long, I wouldn't be surprised if this game he's aiming to pitch a complete game shutout and achieve a 'Maddux game'!"
As he said this, Akiyama Koji's eyes grew sharp, with a hint of the command he wielded in his younger days on the field: "Since he wants this and has the ability to back it up, as the mentor of a genius, we must also have the determination worthy of a genius!"
When he finished, Akiyama Koji motioned to the head umpire for a timeout; in the eyes of all the fans at Miyagi stadium and the Nippon Professional Baseball audience across Japan, he walked directly to the pitcher's mound, gazing intently at the young disciple before him, and earnestly said:
"Guanglai, as the team's mentor, I only have one thing to tell you going forward—"
"For this game, we want a victory; and the one to lead us to victory, it's you, it has to be you!"
Feeling the trust from his mentor, Lin Guanglai was also infected by the passionate emotions emanating from him, and his lips curved slightly, forming a charming arc, as he responded:
"Then please, mentor, watch closely from the dugout!"
As the timeout ended, the intense match resumed—on Rakuten's side, the third batter Ginzou just stepped into the batting area, and a wave of "hit it out" cheers erupted from the stands; some even urged Ginzou to send the ball straight to the bleachers.
Lin Guanglai's response to such behavior was a fastball clocking at 163 km/h, aiming directly at Ginzou's inside corner.
To the spectators in the stands, it seemed to happen in the blink of an eye; the baseball traveled nearly 20 meters and landed into Hosokawa Kei's glove with a loud pop; for Ginzou, the feeling was even stronger, his legs trembling slightly at that moment.
In Ginzou's eyes, the sheer velocity of the pitch triggered an instinctive evasive emotion; at that moment, his mind was filled with only one thought—that being hit by such a fierce fireball would surely land him straight in the hospital...
The result of the pitch was, of course, indisputable, marking a clean strike.
Ginzou had initially thought the pitch was just a warning shot from Lin Guanglai, but he soon realized this notion was utterly mistaken!
Standing in the batter's box, Ginzou only felt a roaring sound around his ears—it wasn't the heartfelt cheers and chants from his fans, but the roar of a strikeout machine fully engaged!
They, Rakuten, had unwittingly awakened the monster that had been contained for most of the game!
The ultra-fast fastballs, rare among Japanese pitchers, flowed from Lin Guanglai's hand as if they cost nothing, each one spun with super speed. Even if Rakuten's batters managed to connect slightly with the ball, it often didn't result in the hit they envisioned.
More importantly, Lin Guanglai wasn't the kind of pitcher with poor control, who relied on speed to intimidate, only to become easy to hit once adjusted to. His highly completed sliders, forkballs, and the curveball perfected this season, along with his fastballs, added up to at least four ways to tackle top batters.
Considering his harmonious pitching mechanics, facing such a pitcher only left those who dared challenge him with a headache.
Quickly, Rakuten's batters experienced what it meant to face a storm of pitching—akin to being bombarded by a heavy-duty aircraft on the battlefield, ground-based Rakuten batters found themselves utterly defenseless.
Akaikei Ginzou was merely the first victim of Lin Guanglai's full-throttle state; even the seasoned, skilled Ginzou couldn't mount any effective counteroffensive against the relentless tide, merely swinging at one pitch before being struck out by Lin Guanglai.
This at-bat, his pitch count was neither more nor less than three.
When Andrew Jones stepped into the batter's box for the third time this game, the broadcast camera captured his unprecedentedly stern expression—during formal matches, even when facing Japan's top-tier pitchers, Andrew Jones had never once shown such a look.
