Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 529 - 114: Tit for Tat, Neither Side Yielding (Part 2)

Fortunately, SoftBank Team’s former ace pitcher, Shetsu Shou, also demonstrated his stability. Although the opposing leadoff hitter struck a hit, he quickly used his signature breaking ball to secure the three outs needed to end the second half of the inning.

If it weren’t for Lin Guanglai’s earth-shattering home run, the first inning of this championship battle should have been as uneventful and ordinary as most pivotal matches; however, the numbers on the Kyocera Dome’s outfield scoreboard kept reminding Moriwaki Koji in the home team’s dugout, reminding Orix’s players, that they were currently on the trailing side.

"We are now on the edge of a cliff..." In Orix’s dugout, Moriwaki Koji stared at his players with reddened eyes, "Winning this game doesn’t mean we will become the champions, but losing this battle will definitely render the entire season’s efforts wasted—"

With a fierce tone, he questioned the players in front of him, "Are you willing to become the stepping stone allowing our opponents to reach the top, just as losers in our own home ground?!"

The Orix players said nothing, but they quickly responded with actions.

Even though Lin Guanglai blasted a targeted homer in his first batting position, his subsequent performance showed that today’s starter Matsuda Naohiro had exceptional adjustment abilities: even facing SoftBank Team’s formidable central lineup, he didn’t easily allow them to hit anymore, rather relying on precise control to consecutively strike out Matsuda Naohiro and Yanagida Yuuki.

When the game reached the top half of the third inning, Lin Guanglai appeared again, and Orix’s supervisor Moriwaki Koji directly signaled the pitcher to walk him with four consecutive balls.

This choice triggered a clamor from the audience — when Lin Guanglai stepped up, Orix faced a definite advantageous situation with no base runners and two outs. Facing such circumstances without even offering a direct confrontation opportunity seemed to show that Orix indeed feared Lin Guanglai.

It proved that this tactic was successful: after Lin Guanglai was walked to first base, Orix quickly seized the needed last out from Imamiya Kenta, who followed, leaving SoftBank Team with one remaining base runner.

In a turn of events, SoftBank’s defense encountered issues first:

Born in 1982, Shetsu Shou entered the league as an older rookie, and he was now 32 years old. It’s said that "30 is a hurdle for pitchers," and even this former Eiji Sawamura Award-level pitcher couldn’t escape such physiological norms.

A decline in pitch speed doesn’t greatly affect him as someone who relies on control, but a drastic drop in body recovery ability was the main reason for his general stat decrease this season:

For young players like Lin Guanglai in their teens, throwing over a hundred pitches today might only need a night’s sleep to recover seven to eight-tenths, and they’ll be energetic the next day; however, the same pitch volume for Shetsu Shou now requires at least 2 to 3 days for complete recovery.

Moreover, from high school to college, from corporate teams to professional baseball, during the process from obscurity to fame in Japan, Shetsu Shou’s arm has undoubtedly pitched thousands and thousands of balls — nearly 20 years of repetitive pitching motions have exerted considerable pressure on his elbow and shoulder. These damages could be compensated by powerful bodily functions in younger times, but by age 30, minor trauma and inflammation could possibly lead to bigger problems.

In the bottom half of the third inning, the young and strong Orix hitters seized this opportunity for precise hits against Shetsu Shou:

With one out, Orix’s catcher Ito Mitsuo sparked a rally for the home team with a hit to the left side of the field; their leadoff hitter Hirano Keiichi followed immediately with a hit, turning the situation into runners on first and third base.

Seeing this scenario, outside Orix’s player area, Moriwaki Koji decisively waved his hand, indicating the players to execute tactics: under a 1-strike, 1-ball count, the No. 2 hitter, Ryoichi Adachi, decisively hit a high fly ball to the outfield, using a sacrifice fly to send the runner from third base home.

"Ryoichi Adachi, a sacrifice fly to the central field direction, SoftBank’s defense really can’t do anything with this ball—" Seeing this situation, the neutral commentator from the official pro baseball live stream source nodded in satisfaction, "Despite the unfavorable scenario seemingly at the start, Orix players haven’t given up hope—this is the game we want to see!"

Unlike Fukuoka TV Station’s commentator, who was filled with strong subjective emotions supporting SoftBank’s momentum, the official live room’s commentator maintained an objectively neutral stance; he preferred a more back-and-forth game rather than an one-sided, suspense-free slaughter.

Now, the situation on the field seemed to be developing in the direction he hoped for—despite two outs already, Orix’s offense obviously hadn’t ended.

Following Ryoichi Adachi’s play was Orix’s standout hitter, this season’s Pacific League’s top batter, Itoi Yoshio, currently holding the league’s top spot with a .336 hitting average, hitting over 30% for the sixth consecutive season.

With base runners continuously applying pressure, facing a top-tier batter in the league within the batting zone, Shetsu Shou’s control wavered under the substantial pressure:

After maintaining a back-and-forth to a 2-ball, 2-strike count, when Itoi Yoshio swung and hit the baseball, Hirano Keiichi simultaneously ran from second base. The baseball descended toward an empty space in central field, and though Yanagida Yuuki exerted his utmost to chase the ball forward, he couldn’t stop the baseball from landing.

Another string of consecutive hits, Orix turned the score around in the bottom half of the third inning!

When the outfield scoreboard flickered to display 2:1, the Kyocera Dome stands erupted with the biggest cheer since the start of this match — dormant home team fans finally had the chance to unleash their bottled-up frustration!

In contrast, SoftBank’s cheering section, which had previously dominated the home team’s fan morale, became much quieter at this moment.

But this situation didn’t last long—

"We’re only three innings in, it’s far from the end—everyone, start shouting, let’s show the players our support! We’re definitely going to win the championship today!"

Quickly, under the guidance of Takeuchi Masao, their leader, they started rallying once more, stirring up another massive wave of cheering in the stands.

It was as if the players heard the response from the fans that, after being completely suppressed in one lineup cycle by Matsuda Naohiro, SoftBank’s batters, gradually adapting to the opponent’s pitching rhythm, began their counterattack.

In the top half of the fourth inning, the consecutively appearing players Nakagawa Seiichi and Lee Dae-ho applied tremendous pressure to Matsuda Naohiro and Orix’s infield defense, even though they were out one after the other, they consumed the opponent’s energy greatly, paving the way for Matsuda Naohiro’s subsequent appearance.

As the team’s acting captain now, with Lin Guanglai being deliberately feared by the opponents, and amidst the general underperformance of other teammates, Matsuda Naohiro stood up once again:

In the situation of two outs, he engaged in an 8-ball battle with Matsuda Naohiro, eventually seizing an opportunity from the opponent’s mistake pitch, under the watchful eyes of tens of thousands, amidst cheers from SoftBank fans at Kyocera Dome, sending the ball into the stands once again.

"Matsuda Naohiro, this is the captain’s responsibility! A solo home run on a full count, he adds another point to the team, tying the score!" Consecutive home runs indeed excited the commentator responsible for this game commentary, "Yes, yes, this is the game we want to watch—this match is getting more and more thrilling!"

"Clearly, SoftBank Team wants to completely remove the suspense of victory today; while the home-ground Orix naturally refuse to be the stepping stone for opponents to ascend—both sides are battling back and forth, refusing to yield, destined to make this an exciting showdown!"