Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 554 - 126: Only the Beginning

With a perfect inning, Lin Guanglai struck out the top three batters of the Hanshin Tigers, making a strong statement to the players and fans in the first battle of the Japan series.

Stepping down from the pitcher's mound, Lin Guanglai started putting on the batting gear needed for his next appearance; Akiyama Koji approached him to remind him of things to be cautious about once he was up:

"Next time you're up to bat, Mason Jie might intentionally hit you, be careful not to get hurt..." Regarding the feud between his pupil and the Hanshin fans, Akiyama Koji had completely given up on resolving it—now as a manager, all he could do was advise Lin Guanglai to keep an eye on the changing situation in the field, and that's it.

"Don't worry, manager, before the game, I promised you that I'd win this match in a way that even Hanshin fans couldn't say a bad word—what just happened in that inning was just the beginning!"

As Hanshin Tigers' starting lineup stepped into the field, it was now SoftBank Hawks' turn to attack: Randy Mason Jie, hailed as one of the most dominant towering pitchers in Nippon Professional Baseball today, demonstrated his extensive experience by controlling the strike zone—against SoftBank's cleanup hitter Lee Dae-ho, Mason Jie deceived him with an exceedingly ambiguous low outside breaking ball, successfully judged by the umpire as a strike, striking Lee Dae-ho out.

Every strikeout by Mason Jie would cause intense vibrations in the Koshien stands and elicit enthusiastic applause from the fans; when Lin Guanglai stepped into the batter's box, the stands were once again enveloped by an enormous chorus of boos.

This time, however, Lin Guanglai did not extend his hand to provocatively gesture at the Hanshin fans; instead, he calmly glanced at Mason Jie on the pitcher's mound, swiftly stepping into the batter's box.

As Hanshin Tigers' current ace, Lin Guanglai had faced Mason Jie several times; he was indeed a fundamentally dominant high-pressure pitcher boasting 13 victories and 226 strikeouts this season, securing two pitching titles in the Central League, reaching a new peak in his career. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Most importantly, Mason Jie possessed exceptional pitching endurance, having appeared 31 times in the 2014 season, with 15 times within 5 days, 6 times in 4 days, and exceeding 130 pitches in 4 games—hence, trying to deplete his stamina through close battles proved to be minimally effective.

To knock a base hit or even a long hit off Mason Jie, often the only option was to abandon a comprehensive attack and focus on targeting certain pitches—like in this plate appearance, Lin Guanglai decided to make a move on Mason Jie's signature curveball.

Unless it was a straight pitch mistakenly thrown into the hitting sweet spot, Lin Guanglai wouldn't swing; his target was the curveball Mason Jie frequently used when ahead with two strikes!

Of course, to force Mason Jie to resolve the issue with a curveball had a prerequisite, which was to withstand the opponent's fierce fastball offensive.

With the umpire's call of "Play Ball," the confrontation at this at-bat officially commenced. The Hanshin fans in the stands came alive once again, continuously shouting "Strike him out" and other phrases, trying to exert pressure on the batter.

The first pitch, after a brief communication with the catcher, Mason Jie's delivery was smooth and powerful, a high-pressure fastball over 150 km/h just like that shot out, Lin Guanglai remained unmoved, choosing to watch the ball pass through to the plate.

"Strike!" The umpire's call came quickly, and this result greatly satisfied the Hanshin fans in the Koshien stands, triggering a tsunami of cheers, with insults like "coward" occasionally echoing from the stands behind Lin Guanglai at home plate.

The second pitch, Hanshin Tigers catcher Ryutaro Umeno's signals continuously changed down by his thighs, Mason Jie gently nodded twice before swinging his arm again.

Still a fastball, and this pitch was even fiercer than the previous one, with the location closer to Lin Guanglai's inside corner, nearly striking him.

Faced with this menacing pitch, Lin Guanglai did not retreat like ordinary batters to ensure his safety; instead, he demonstrated his precise dynamic vision and extraordinarily strong distance control ability—remaining stationary as the ball skimmed his arm and flew into the plate.

"Ball!"

Following this call, the Hanshin fans in the stands quickly changed their expressions, thunderous boos erupted once more, as though they weren't the ones celebrating the strike earlier.

After attacking the batter's inside corner twice and ending up with 1 ball 1 strike, Hanshin's pitcher and catcher quickly shifted their strategy, moving the main battlefield more to the outside of the strike zone—on the third and fourth pitches, Mason Jie successively delivered high outside fastballs and low outside forkballs, also resulting in 1 ball 1 strike.

After four pitches, the count was 2 balls 2 strikes, slightly favoring the pitcher.

On the pitcher's mound, Mason Jie took a deep breath: as a pitcher who had been hit for a home run by Lin Guanglai before, he certainly knew how formidable the opponent was, especially his sharp eye for picking pitches and extraordinary batting sense. At this decisive moment, the words of pitching coach Kubo Yasuo flashed through Mason Jie's mind—indeed, he decided to trust his signature curveball.