Genius Pitcher Hides 170Km [EN]: Chapter 164

#163. Next

In baseball, there are countless ways to play mind games on the opposing team.

Among them is a tactic frequently used with minimal risk, yet its effect is undeniable.

It involves changing pitchers six times in one inning or pointlessly delaying the game. These actions provoke immense frustration and anger in the opposing team and the fans watching, and that is exactly what is happening here.

“Ball.”

“Time! Pitcher change!”

“Boo! Cut it out! How many times are you going to change pitchers today!”

In the top of the first inning, the Warriors took a 2-point lead with Jo Sung-oh’s two-run home run, but in the bottom of the first, Lee Young-joo allowed four consecutive hits, quickly tying the score.

Then came the top of the second inning.

Kim Yong-jae struck out Lee Chang-mo and then threw two balls to the next batter, Jang Deok-soo.

The first ball nearly hit him, and the second flew high and inside.

In that moment, I had a feeling.

That Hwang Byung-ho had ordered Kim Yong-jae to throw a beanball [a pitch deliberately aimed at the batter].

And that Kim Yong-jae had ultimately refused.

As if to confirm my suspicion, Kim Yong-jae, who had only faced two batters, was immediately taken out of the game.

The Incheon bench, or more precisely, Hwang Byung-ho’s despicable intentions, were transparent.

The beanball aimed at Jang Deok-soo.

It was a move to provoke him and, if possible, induce a bench-clearing brawl to get him ejected.

In the process, an Incheon player might get hit by Jang Deok-soo and be carried off the field, but Hwang Byung-ho didn’t care about that.

If the Warriors, who would be finished with even one loss in the three-game series, could eliminate the team’s starting catcher, they would consider it a definite win.

“Haa…”

“Soo-hyuk, what’s wrong?”

“Senior Min-seok.”

“Yeah?”

“Why have we been putting up with this kind of behavior all this time?”

“What kind of behavior? Ah…”

Choi Min-seok scratched the back of his head, seeming embarrassed, and trailed off.

That attitude that anything is acceptable to win, even if it means injuring one’s own team or the opposing team’s players.

Is it even reasonable that such baseball is being played in 2027, not in the 1980s?

Does the world really have no self-correcting mechanism?

I suppressed my seething anger and watched the game.

The Incheon pitcher who came up to replace Kim Yong-jae, Jin Se-min, had been personally called up by Hwang Byung-ho not long ago. For some reason, no more beanballs were thrown.

Thwack!

A weakly hit ball resulted in Jang Deok-soo being retired with a fly ball to center field.

Then Kim Soo-hak stepped up to the plate.

Did the strategy change?

Thud!

“Agh!”

“What the hell!”

Yeah, of course not.

Kim Soo-hak was hit in the back by the first pitch and collapsed.

“No! Jang Deok-soo!”

“Stop him!”

“Enough! Enough! Deok-soo! Calm down! He’s completely lost it!”

Manager Lee Dae-jun and the head coach personally stopped Jang Deok-soo, who was about to charge onto the mound.

Meanwhile, Jo Sung-oh and Ahn Chi-wook approached from the side, grabbed my arms, and shook their heads.

It was clearly a pre-arranged, organized movement.

A planned move to stop Jang Deok-soo and me.

Hmm.

“That’s a warning. If you throw another ball like that, it won’t end with just an ejection.”

“Yes, yes, I’m sorry.”

The umpire only gave a warning to the pitcher, who took off his hat and repeatedly bowed his head, even though it seemed intentional.

But I clearly saw it.

The despicable smile that formed on the corner of the guy’s mouth as he turned away from the umpire after pretending to be sorry.

In that moment, I had a thought.

That there are people in this world who can’t be reasoned with, and that those people exploit the weaknesses of others to the death.

The weakness that Hwang Byung-ho is currently exploiting is none other than our fear of ejection.

If a bench-clearing brawl occurs and key players like me and Jang Deok-soo are ejected and suspended, it will negatively impact our challenge for first place in the regular season and even the fall baseball season.

That’s the despicable calculation that we will hold back.

I chuckled involuntarily.

Is Hwang Byung-ho really a modern person living in 2027?

Or is he perhaps still stuck in his prime, decades ago?

In that moment, I made a decision.

That it’s better to just do what we have to do coolly than to be swayed by such a person in order to take first place.

Since the outcome of the game is up to fate anyway, there’s no need to be obsessed with it and give the opponent a weakness.

Yeah, let’s start with that annoying pitcher.

* * *

[3rd batter, shortstop Han Soo-hyuk]

In the top of the third inning, with both teams failing to score in the second, the Warriors’ offense began.

Jin Se-min, who was probably going to be taken off the mound after this inning, smirked as he looked at Han Soo-hyuk at the plate.

He had safely handled the Warriors’ tricky first and second batters.

If he were told to face that monster, he would never smile like this, but that wasn’t his mission.

To throw the ball at ridiculous courses to disrupt that guy’s batting balance even a little bit and walk him. And to wear him down with pickoff attempts [attempts by the pitcher to throw to a base and tag out a runner].

That was all he was tasked to do.

It wasn’t a difficult task.

Jin Se-min, whose control was much worse than his fastball and who was criticized for his personality that harmed teamwork, threw the ball close to Han Soo-hyuk’s body.

A ball that was ambiguous to be called a beanball, just a ball to disrupt the balance against inside pitches.

But the moment that ball left Jin Se-min’s hand.

Thwack!

Han Soo-hyuk’s batting stance changed to an extreme open stance.

And as if chopping with an axe, he swung down on the ball flying high and inside.

Thud!

“Ugh…!”

Jin Se-min lost consciousness with immense pain.

The last thing he saw was Han Soo-hyuk’s hit bouncing hard right in front of the mound.

Everyone was startled and in a state of shock. Han Soo-hyuk, with a light step, ran to first base and said as if for someone to hear.

“Next.”

* * *

– Ah! What’s happening! An ambulance has entered the field and is carrying the fallen Jin Se-min away. Ah, a truly terrible thing has happened.

– This, this is… um, I shouldn’t laugh, but geez…

– Choi In-ki is taking the mound to replace Jin Se-min, who collapsed after being hit in a sensitive area by the batted ball. Director Hwang Byung-ho’s face is flushed, perhaps because he’s flustered by the sudden situation.

– He probably had a picture in his head, but it’s been ruined, so he’s flustered.

– A picture in his head?

– Well, something like that. Jin Se-min would face up to someone, throw a lot of pickoff attempts, and then be replaced, something like that…

Go Dong-sik, who was prepared to leave KBC after today’s broadcast if necessary, spoke without hesitation.

Well, there were broadcasting stations that offered him a transfer after the WBC [World Baseball Classic] anyway, and if things didn’t work out, he could just go back to personal broadcasting. If he kept his mouth shut here, he might die of frustration.

As if reading Go Dong-sik’s mind, the announcer continued with a half-resigned expression.

– Anyway, with the score tied 2-2, fast runner Han Soo-hyuk is on first base. It’s another crisis for Incheon.

– Yes, it’s obvious how Incheon will respond, but… let’s watch for now.

* * *

“Safe!”

“Seriously, quit it! What are you doing!”

“I’m going to kill you! I’m really going to kill you!”

The changed pitcher, Choi In-ki, has just thrown his twelfth pickoff attempt.

With only the third inning started, three pitcher changes have been made, and the crowd is furious with the endless pickoff attempts every time Han Soo-hyuk gets on first base.

It wasn’t just the Warriors’ away fans. Even the home fans who were dissatisfied with Hwang Byung-ho becoming the manager started booing.

Han Soo-hyuk, stuck to first base, waved his finger in his ear and said.

“Aren’t you ashamed of doing this kind of thing?”

“…”

The Incheon’s foreign first baseman, who had tasted bitterness every time he exchanged words with Han Soo-hyuk, kept his mouth shut and didn’t answer.

“Play!”

The game, which had been temporarily stopped to clean up the debris thrown onto the field, resumed.

With the continuous pickoff attempts, Han Soo-hyuk gave up leading and stuck to the base.

Something was signaled to the pitcher from the Incheon dugout.

The pitcher’s eyes changed.

Now it was finally time to throw the ball.

Choi In-ki, who Hwang Byung-ho had personally picked up, just like Jin Se-min who was carried off after being hit in a sensitive area, slowly began his pitching motion.

No, he was about to begin.

Just one breath, the moment he decided to stop the pickoff attempts and start pitching.

Thud.

“Huh!”

A hurried sound came from first base.

But Choi In-ki couldn’t stop his motion. His body was still, but his brain had already instructed his body to pitch.

In a hurried state of mind, Choi In-ki’s pitch continued.

And the result was disastrous.

Whoosh!

“Shit! Backup! Backup!”

Choi In-ki’s pitch flew to an absurd place, and the catcher, who tried to catch it even by throwing his body, fell to the side with a thud.

Instead of the fallen catcher, the first baseman quickly covered.

By the time the first baseman caught the ball that had hit the net above home plate and rolled away, Han Soo-hyuk was already rounding second base and running towards third.

“Tch!”

The foreign first baseman, who had been scolded by Han Soo-hyuk earlier, threw the ball towards third base with all his might.

He was a player with a good arm, good enough to play right field even in the Big Leagues. The ball he threw flew like a bullet towards third base.

But,

“Uh oh!”

The Incheon’s third baseman lost sight of the ball due to Han Soo-hyuk running fiercely, and eventually missed the trajectory of the incoming throw.

It was a mistake that veteran Min Joo-hyun, who had been kicked out to the minor leagues for defying Hwang Byung-ho, would never have made.

“Hey, you son of a bitch! What the hell are you doing!”

The throw went past, and Han Soo-hyuk rounded third base again and ran towards home.

It was a situation that the third baseman, who had only been playing as a backup, couldn’t handle at all.

Instead of the half-crazed third baseman, the second baseman covered and caught the ball, but it was already too late.

Han Soo-hyuk, with his huge 193cm frame, was running towards home with momentum.

“Home! Home!”

It was impossible to get him out in terms of timing anyway.

But Incheon catcher Son Young-jin gritted his teeth and blocked the front of home plate.

The catcher must not block the runner’s path without the ball.

The problem was that Hwang Byung-ho’s instructions remained more strongly in Incheon catcher Son Young-jin’s head than those rules.

‘Anyone who carelessly gives up the base will be exiled to Ganghwa Island and spend the winter there. Do you understand me!’

Ganghwa Island, where the Incheon Rangers’ minor league stadium is located, a hell dominated by the new minor league manager who can be said to be Hwang Byung-ho’s henchman.

No way. I can’t go down there.

The catcher, gritting his teeth, blocked Han Soo-hyuk’s path to somehow stop the runner, or rather, to avoid getting out of Hwang Byung-ho’s sight.

It was an action that couldn’t be done without expecting a collision. The catcher was trusting the protective gear he was wearing.

But,

Thwack!

“Cough!”

The catcher Son Young-jin, who collided with Han Soo-hyuk, flew into the air and crashed to the ground.

The late throw hit the fallen catcher and rolled powerlessly somewhere.

Han Soo-hyuk, who watched the scene with indifferent eyes, raised his right foot high and slammed it down on home plate.

“Safe!”

“Waaaaaah!”

“You son of a bitch!”