On The Rise As A Catcher [EN]: Chapter 202

Both teams’ players pulled Seol Jin-il and Suarez apart.

“Seol Jin-il! Seol Jin-il!”

As the umpire called Seol Jin-il, Ham Seong-hoon rushed over first.

Before Ham Seong-hoon could say anything, the umpire pointed at Seol Jin-il.

“Ejection!”

“Umpire!”

As Ham Seong-hoon tried to argue with the umpire, battery coach Kim Tae-woo stopped him.

Ham Seong-hoon raised his voice.

“The pitcher isn’t ejected, so why only the batter!”

“If it were a fastball, I wouldn’t, but a breaking ball [a pitch that curves or changes direction] beanball isn’t grounds for ejection. But the batter using physical force first is grounds for ejection.”

“It’s just a bench clearing! Can’t you just let it go!”

“He clearly used violence. I can’t overlook this.”

“Violence? They just grabbed each other by the collar.”

“It wasn’t just grabbing the collar. He clearly made a fist and hit the opposing pitcher. This is an undeniable ejection.”

“But!”

The battery coach pulled Ham Seong-hoon back.

“Coach, there’s still a game left.”

Ham Seong-hoon took a deep breath at the battery coach’s words.

The message was not to provoke the umpire since there was still a game left.

“If you make a big deal out of this, you could get a suspension.”

At the battery coach’s additional words, Ham Seong-hoon turned away.

“I understand.”

The conclusion of the bench clearing was Seol Jin-il’s ejection.

The Goat fans wouldn’t stay still.

They relentlessly booed so loudly that the umpires covered their ears.

The Wolves fans also raised their voices in response, and the game was stopped.

Only after 10 minutes, then 20 minutes, did things finally calm down.

The umpires gathered and put their heads together.

“John, don’t call it too tight. Let’s finish the game quickly, okay?”

“Yeah. Let’s make the zone a bit wider. We might not get out of here if we don’t.”

“Okay. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Jang Do-cheol, who mainly plays as a defensive replacement, came in for Seol Jin-il.

With Jang Do-cheol on first base, the batter was Kim In-hwan.

Suarez, who had been hit by Seol Jin-il, had a swollen eye.

The catcher called for an outside fastball as the first pitch.

What came in was a pitch that deeply missed inside.

Kim In-hwan had to quickly move his body out of the way from the pitch that dug into the batter’s box.

“Wooooooo!”

“Hey! Are you kidding me!”

“Quit it! Quit it, you bastards!”

The Goat fans’ shouts grew louder.

The umpire also warned the catcher and pitcher.

“If you do anything suspicious, I won’t stand still either. Be careful.”

“Yes. I’ll be careful.”

Shin Min-ho also thought that if the atmosphere became more hostile here, things would get much bigger, so he safely signaled for an outside ball.

Kim In-hwan couldn’t resist swinging at Suarez’s outside changeup [a slow pitch thrown with a grip that causes it to move erratically].

The ball hit the end of the bat and slowly rolled towards the shortstop.

“The shortstop fields it and throws to second! Second to first! Oh? A bad throw! The ball got away! Kim In-hwan goes straight to second! To second! He makes it!”

“Oh… but Jung Soo-young can’t get up right now. It seems like Jang Do-cheol jumped to avoid him while sliding, and his foot got caught a bit.”

“Shall we look at it in slow motion? Hmm. Ah, that’s right. His foot got caught slightly. Could it be a serious injury?”

“Awkward falls can sometimes cause more serious injuries. But just now, Jung Soo-young fell like he was doing a breakfall, so unless his ribs are damaged, it doesn’t seem like a major injury.”

The Wolves’ manager jumped up at Jung Soo-young’s injury.

As the Wolves’ players rushed to Jung Soo-young, the umpire gave a warning in advance.

“If you cause trouble this time, I’ll eject you without hesitation!”

Jung Soo-young got up and signaled to the coach that he was okay.

The coach checked Jung Soo-young’s body and gave the okay sign to the manager.

“Wooooooo.”

This time, the Wolves fans booed first.

The umpire immediately resumed the game without delay.

The next batter was the cleanup hitter, Song Seok-hyun.

Catcher Shin Min-ho clearly moved to the outside.

If a pitch near the body goes to Song Seok-hyun after Kim In-hwan, it’s a real bench clearing.

Right now, it’s like gasoline has been soaked into a fuse.

Even a single spark could cause an explosion.

At that moment, Song Seok-hyun moved half a step.

He stood close to the plate, crouching down, waiting for Suarez’s pitch.

“……”

Shin Min-ho licked his dry lips.

The announcer also exclaimed when he saw this.

“Is he telling them to throw a pitch inside? Song Seok-hyun is standing very close to the plate. If he’s that close, he won’t be able to hit any pitches that come inside for a strike, will he?”

“Song Seok-hyun is coming on pretty strong. Can they throw an inside pitch like that? In this situation, it would be difficult unless the pitcher is very daring.”

Suarez frowned, not hiding his unpleasant feelings.

Catcher Shin Min-ho continued to hold his mitt outside.

Suarez’s first pitch was an outside fastball.

Song Seok-hyun watched the pitch go by.

-Strike!

“First pitch strike. Suarez has regained his control.”

Song Seok-hyun took a breath, holding the bat on his shoulder.

The zone has widened.

The pitch was further outside than before, but it was called a strike.

It wasn’t just Suarez who adjusted his aim.

‘Curveball.’

As the missed pitch was called a strike, the catcher called for an outside curveball as if he had been waiting for it.

The ball that Suarez threw came in half a ball further outside than before.

Song Seok-hyun’s waist turned, and his bottom hand stretched out in a straight line.

Thwack!

The ball, caught on the end of the bat, flew towards the right fielder, curving outwards, outwards.

“A high fly ball! Will the right fielder catch it? Will he catch it?”

The ball, with a lot of spin, quickly plummeted from high in the sky.

Kang Gi-soo stood against the fence and jumped in time.

Thud.

“It’s over! Song Seok-hyun’s two-run homer! It didn’t go outside the foul pole and went over the fence! Home run! Home run! Kang Gi-soo is staring blankly at the fence.”

“I thought that ball was just a fly ball, but it really went far. Can such a fly ball become a home run in Jamsil [a baseball stadium in Seoul]? Usually, the right fielder would easily catch an out with that much spin.”

“The problem solver, Song Seok-hyun, has done it again. Has yesterday’s rest become a tonic?”

“Is this what a cleanup hitter is? He’s renewing the chaotic team atmosphere in one shot.”

“Suarez threw a good curveball, but a home run came out of it here.”

“In my opinion, the home run came out because it was a curveball. If a fastball is a backspin ball, then a curveball is a forward spin, so a regular spin ball. For a batter to hit a ball far, they have to hit the bottom of the ball and the ball has to spin from below towards the pitcher, and that’s exactly how a curveball spins. So you don’t need to hit a curveball hard. You just need to get the direction right for it to go far.”

“Ah, is that so?”

At Song Seok-hyun’s home run, Suarez covered his mouth with his glove and cursed without holding back.

He should have thrown the ball inside.

No matter how great a batter is, they can’t properly hit the ball if they stand that close to the plate.

Throwing an outside ball to a batter waiting for an outside pitch is like the batter starting with an advantage.

He was furious, thinking that the catcher was scared and allowed the home run, rather than thinking that he had thrown the wrong pitch.

Suarez, with a flushed face, faced the next batter, Yoo Seon-ho.

Suarez’s first pitch hit Yoo Seon-ho’s side.

“This bastard, really!”

Yoo Seon-ho threw his bat to the ground, and Suarez also threw his glove down.

Catcher Shin Min-ho quickly got up and tried to stop Yoo Seon-ho.

“Hyung [older brother or respected male figure], hyung, hyung! Calm down! It wasn’t intentional. It wasn’t intentional.”

“Let go, you punk! Don’t you know he threw it on purpose?”

“No. It missed. I clearly signaled outside, but it missed.”

“Let go! Are you not letting go?”

The Goat players, who had calmed down for a moment with Song Seok-hyun’s home run, couldn’t stand Yoo Seon-ho’s beanball any longer.

The beanball from just now was like pouring oil on a fire.

“Stop them! Stop them!”

“Hey, hey, hey! Calm down! Calm down!”

“Block him! Quickly!”

While Yoo Seon-ho was being held by the catcher, Suarez ran towards Yoo Seon-ho.

Yoo Seon-ho looked at the pitcher who had hit him running towards him with an absurd look.

The Wolves’ players blocked Suarez, but Suarez raised his middle finger and cursed.

It was a harsh curse that even players who didn’t know English could understand.

“Ejection! Ejection!”

The umpire ejected Suarez to calm the boiling atmosphere.

The Wolves’ bench couldn’t stay still at the starting pitcher’s ejection.

The manager even came out and strongly protested to the umpire.

“Where is there a case where you give a direct ejection for a ball that wasn’t thrown at the head!”

“We can give an ejection if you intentionally throw a beanball!”

“It wasn’t intentional!”

“Isn’t it obvious to anyone that it was intentional! How many times has this happened this inning!”

“You have to follow the rules. Can you prove it was intentional?”

“Get out! There’s no reversing it. If you keep doing this, you’ll be ejected too, manager!”

“Ejection? Are you threatening me?”

This time, the Wolves’ manager and the umpire got into it.

The Wolves’ fans threw boos and even foreign objects onto the field at Suarez’s ejection.

As the Wolves’ players surrounded the umpire, the umpires rushed to protect the head umpire.

As the crowd gathered, the head umpire was pushed back, back, and back.

The head umpire, who had been pushed several times, couldn’t stand it any longer.

“Ejection! It’s an ejection! The manager is also ejected! Get off the field quickly!”

As the Wolves’ manager was also ejected, the Wolves’ head coach left the manager to the coaches and approached the umpire.

“I’m sorry. I’ll withdraw from here, so let’s stop. Okay?”

“Still, the ejection will not be reversed. If you cause any more trouble here, the rest will be ejected!”

The Wolves’ manager couldn’t control his anger.

As the manager left behind the bench, huffing and puffing, the players returned to their positions one by one.

As the starting pitcher suddenly went down, the bullpen pitcher had to come up to the mound without even having time to warm up his shoulder.

The pitcher, whose aim wasn’t adjusted, threw consecutive walks.

As the runners piled up, a single hit led to a large number of runs.

The Wolves immediately made another pitching change, but the momentum that had already shifted didn’t come back.

The Wolves’ batters, who were giving up points little by little, became impatient.

Lee Baek-chan, who came up to replace the collapsed starter, pitched well with 1 run in 5 innings, catching counts with quick matches.

The result was 7-6.

The Goat’s hard-won victory.

It was a narrow victory despite the opposing manager’s ejection and the starting pitcher’s ejection.

“Hoo. We’re lucky.”

“Good job.”

“Everyone, good job.”

Only after the game did manager Ham Seong-hoon show a smile.

A winning series.

The Goat’s sole first place.

The Wolves’ sole fourth place.

It was a game that cemented the rankings of both teams.

The aftermath of the manager’s and starting pitcher’s ejections didn’t end there.

The next day was a match between the Wolves’ ace Jang Gye-seong and Han Min-seok, who had recently regained his pace.

The Wolves’ manager Jang Tae-seop, who was determined to get revenge on the Goat, took the extreme measure of taking Jang Gye-seong down in the 4th inning after he gave up a solo home run to Song Seok-hyun.

After that, the Wolves won 3-2, using as many as six bullpen pitchers.

The Goat only managed a winning series instead of a sweep, and was tied again with Pegasus for first place.

However, the Wolves, who had used up their bullpen, recorded another losing series against the 5th-place Wales, falling 2 games behind 3rd place and self-destructing.

The Goat won a winning series against the Gwangju Bulls, regaining sole first place.

The Jamsil rivals’ weekly record was 4 wins and 2 losses versus 2 wins and 4 losses.

Sole first place versus sole fourth place.

It was a week where the Goat fans’ cheers didn’t diminish.

Success as a Catcher

Rivals on a Narrow Bridge

“I’m off.”

“Okay. Be careful today and do well.”

“Yes, yes!”

Song Seok-hyun left home with his bag.

Long sleeves and jeans.

A baseball cap pulled down low.

There was no autumn jacket, but women wearing Burberry coats were passing by one by one on the street.

Arriving at Jamsil Stadium during lunchtime.

When he went to the locker room, other players were already changing their clothes.

“Oh? Hello. You’re already here?”

“Oh, you’re here?”