Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 547 - 122: Speed of Life and Death (Part 2)

"At the top of the seventh inning, Shohei Ohtani's critical double, he tied the score for us!" The commentators from Hokkaido faction saw this scene unfolding on the field and raised their arms shouting, "He proved with his actions that he is definitely not inferior to SoftBank's Lin Guanglai!"

Having hit a key tying run, Shohei Ohtani seemed quite emotional. Standing on second base, he clenched his fists, continuously roaring towards his team's player area, releasing the emotions he had been suppressing for more than half the game.

And the scoring momentum for the Ham Team continued: With no outs and a man on second base, they could rely on small-ball tactics to push for more scores even when reaching the latter part of the lineup; not to mention Kenji Oonari continuously allowed hits and was visibly unstable at this moment—why not seize the opportunity to score more runs instead of insisting on giving the opponent a chance to reverse the situation?

By the time the SoftBank team secured the third out required to end the top of the seventh inning, the score on the Eagle's Vision scoreboard was already 1 to 3. In this half-inning, the Ham Team, relying on a series of key hits and subsequent small-ball strategies, scored 3 points in one go, achieving a comeback against the home team.

Especially notable was Shohei Ohtani, who had an outstanding performance hitting a double with a run batted in and later scoring himself—one could say that the Ham Team's ability to accomplish a reversal in the score was almost solely achieved by him.

As the home team's fans were hoping for their team to quickly respond and either tie the score or regain the lead, their players failed to meet their expectations:

Today's starting pitcher for the Ham Team was Hiroshi Urano, whom they selected in last year's draft as an immediate combat-ready corporate league pitcher. His extraordinary pitch quality, good control, and a fastball that could reach a speed of up to 151 km/h, along with his diverse breaking ball arsenal, allowed him to secure a place in professional baseball.

And today, it was evident that he had found his rhythm, pitching more confidently with each throw—even after several rounds against the opposing team, SoftBank's batters could not consistently hit safe hits against him.

At the bottom of the seventh inning, three up, three down.

At the bottom of the eighth inning, everyone was retired in order.

Just a short while ago, the Yahoo Dome was bustling with noise, but after the bottom of the eighth inning ended, it became as quiet as a library, with only a few Ham Team fans still making noise.

Many of the home team's fans, wearing Softbank team jerseys, held their heads in disbelief, looking towards the players on the field—all aware that the opportunities available to them were diminishing, and the hope of winning this game was becoming increasingly slim.

"It's okay, Kenji, the current situation isn't your fault—it's us batters who couldn't provide you with enough support, if there's anyone to blame, it should be us!"

In the SoftBank team's player area, when today's starter Kenji Oonari expressed his remorse to his teammates for his performance, team captain Naohiro Matsuda was the first to stand up, expressing his support for their pitcher; soon, others also expressed their supporting statements one after another.

"Yeah, senior Kenji, as senior Matsuda said, the situation of this game turning out the way it has should be the responsibility of us batters..." Lin Guanglai looked earnestly at Kenji Oonari and the surrounding teammates, "But who says we are certain to lose?"

"Everyone, the game isn't over yet! If those Ham Team guys think a 2-run lead is enough to make us surrender, then let them keep thinking that!"

At this point, Lin Guanglai paused, glanced around at his teammates, and continued, "In the bottom of the ninth inning, I swear to all of you, as long as the lineup rotation allows me to reach the field, no matter how many are on base, I will bring them all home!"

Lin Guanglai's words undoubtedly stirred the emotions of the other players, and the veteran players of the team stood up from their seats in agreement with him: "Guanglai is right—never give up until the very end, isn't this the principle we've been told since we started learning to play?"

"Fight with the Ham Team!"

"Fight!"

In the rest area, quiet roars arose, rekindling the flame called "fighting spirit" in the eyes of the Softbank players; their gaze became sharp again, all determined to fight the Ham Team to the death.

The bottom of the ninth inning quickly began, and from the Ham Team side, Kuriyama Hideki did not change pitchers, instead choosing to trust Hiroshi Urano, who was performing excellently today, seemingly preparing to let him complete the game; however, he didn't forget to make a backup plan, as their ace closer, Koji Masui, was warming up in the bullpen.

The bottom of the ninth officially started!

From SoftBank, the designated hitter sent by Koji Akiyama was Barbaro Canizares, who specifically handles these moments of trailing for SoftBank as a pinch hitter, with an average hitting rate of around .280 and a slugging percentage exceeding .500.

But today's Hiroshi Urano indeed delivered the representative work of his pitching career, whether high-speed fastballs or dazzling variety of breaking balls, causing Canizares to be unable to handle them properly—after reaching a 2 strikes and 2 balls situation, Canizares swung at a high inside fastball, which, after hitting the barrel edge, turned into a weak grounder towards the pitcher, easily fielded by Hiroshi Urano and thrown to first base for the out.

With one out, the probability of SoftBank tying the score shrank further.

Fortunately, Seiichi Uchikawa stepped up afterward: facing Hiroshi Urano, who was seemingly pitching wildly today, this veteran player with over a decade of professional baseball experience seized upon a slight control flaw by the opponent, piercing through the Ham Team's infield defense with a single swing, successfully reaching first base, and subsequently stealing second base.

Given that the upcoming batters would be the central spot lineup, Koji Akiyama issued Imamiya Kenta a bunt and advance command: at the cost of the second out, SoftBank assisted Seiichi Uchikawa to reach third base.

The consistent pressure got to Hiroshi Urano, and while facing last season's hit king, Yuuya Hasegawa, his several attempts to lure the opponent into swinging didn't succeed, eventually resulting in throwing four balls and walking Hasegawa to first base.

Now on the Ham Team side, Kuriyama Hideki finally could no longer sit still: He signaled for the umpire to change pitchers, letting the guardian angel Koji Masui from the bullpen come on to finish this last out.

A moment later—

"Four balls! A four-ball walk! Sending out a four-ball walk!" Saying this, Shuhei Ohtani's voice was even slightly trembling, "The opportunity we have long awaited has come!"

When Koji Masui, whom he personally subbed into the game, issued a fatal four-ball walk, filling the bases, Kuriyama Hideki's heart immediately sank to the bottom:

For the next batter stepping to the plate, it's Lin Guanglai!!!

If Lin Guanglai was on another team, Kuriyama Hideki might even choose to deliberately walk him, conceding 1 run to potentially catch the latter part of the lineup; but against SoftBank, this strategy would be entirely ineffectual.

Whether it's the 6th batter, Naohiro Matsuda, or the 7th batter, Yuuki Yanagida, both are super strong hitters who could hold a stable cleanup spot in a regular team!

At this point, he could only choose to believe in his guardian angel!

The atmosphere at the Yahoo Dome became increasingly intense, Lin Guanglai slowly walked to the batter's box and could even hear his own "thump thump" heartbeat: with two out and the bases loaded, a slightly deep hit would be enough to tie the score, a home run could directly end the opponent's game.

At this moment, the pressure almost entirely rested on Lin Guanglai: He could feel the expectant gazes from the direction of his own team's dugout and sense the fierce stare from the opponents on the field.

Aside from a little nervousness, what filled Lin Guanglai's heart at this moment was more excitement: He knew that he was born for moments like this!

Setting up in the left-handed batter's box, he faced the pitcher's gaze, returning the pressure to the opponent.

On the pitcher's mound, Koji Masui took a deep breath, exchanged a look with the catcher behind home plate, and then pitched with all his might.

In the batter's box, eyes locked firmly on the ball, Lin Guanglai's lips curled slightly as he stepped forward to push the bat towards the incoming pitch—

"Crack—!!!"

A crisp sound resonated in the sky over the Yahoo Dome.