Perfect Agent [EN]: Chapter 87

Manoeuvre (2)

“Hoo- Hoo-”

Go Ji-hoon was spending more time warming up than usual.

He usually spent a considerable amount of time compared to other players, but today it took even longer.

He focused especially on loosening his waist and shoulders.

Only after feeling sufficiently limber did he start pitching in the bullpen.

Thump.

Thump.

It might feel like a powerful ball as usual, but,

‘Ugh… It’s really bad.’

He was just trying not to show it, but his condition was definitely not normal.

But no matter how hard he tried to conceal it, it was difficult to hide it from the eyes of a professional.

Lee Sang-hak, the Doubles pitching coach, approached.

“Ji-hoon, are you feeling okay today?”

His eyes were already full of worry.

“I think it’s taking a little longer to find my rhythm because the amount of training has decreased. I’ll be fine once my body warms up more.”

Lee Sang-hak nodded without saying anything and watched him throw the ball.

Go Ji-hoon picked up the ball and grabbed a fastball grip.

Then, he threw the ball more carefully than usual towards the bullpen catcher’s mitt.

Thump.

‘It feels okay if I reduce the angle of bending my waist a little?’

Thump.

‘It definitely feels better. I’ll have to adjust it while throwing in between.’

Go Ji-hoon was gradually finding an angle with less pain.

However, Lee Sang-hak, who noticed the difference in his pitching form, tilted his head every time Go Ji-hoon threw the ball.

Thump.

Thump.

Go Ji-hoon tested his sinker, two-seam fastball, changeup, curveball, and slider evenly.

It wasn’t very satisfactory, but he seemed to have found a way to alleviate the pain a little.

After finishing all the bullpen pitching, he went into the locker room to change into his game uniform.

As soon as Go Ji-hoon entered, Lee Sang-hak approached the bullpen catcher.

“How was Ji-hoon’s ball today?”

“Well… His control wasn’t good, so it didn’t go to the desired location, and his power seemed to be definitely lower than usual.”

“I’m not the only one who felt that, right?”

“Judging from the fact that his pitching form changes every time he throws, it seems like his physical condition isn’t good.”

The bullpen catcher said, tilting his head.

“Is that so? Then it would be good to prepare today [have a backup plan].”

Lee Sang-hak nodded and hurriedly went to find someone.

* * *

Go Ji-hoon walked towards the mound as it became the Doubles’ defensive inning.

“Waaaaa-”

“Go Ji-hoon! Go Ji-hoon!”

The cheers of the fans who saw Go Ji-hoon filled the stadium.

Go Ji-hoon, standing on the mound, prepared to pitch with the same expression as usual.

‘I can throw well today too.’

He muttered constantly as if hypnotizing himself.

Meanwhile, the Buffaloes’ leadoff hitter entered the batter’s box.

Go Ji-hoon exchanged signs with the catcher and took a stance to throw the ball.

‘It’s important to throw a first-pitch strike in times like this.’

He took a deep breath and started pitching.

Perhaps because of the fear that the pain might be felt again, he couldn’t throw with all his might.

Thump!

Unlike the catcher’s sign for the outside, the ball headed towards the batter’s body.

“Strike!”

It didn’t fly to the desired location, but somehow he started with a first-pitch strike.

The catcher immediately sent the next sign.

‘This time, a high inside location.’

Go Ji-hoon took a little bit of strength out and threw the ball this time as well.

“Huh?”

The moment he released the ball, he could feel that it wouldn’t go to the desired location.

Thwack!

The ball thrown by Go Ji-hoon headed more inward than intended and flew towards the batter’s body.

The batter, recognizing that it was flying towards him, quickly turned his body and was hit in the back.

He was in pain for a while, but fortunately, it didn’t seem to be an injury.

The referee declared a hit-by-pitch and signaled the batter to go to first base.

Go Ji-hoon gestured an apology to the player running to first base.

“Are you okay? Sorry.”

The batter who arrived at first base greeted Go Ji-hoon, saying he was okay.

As Go Ji-hoon stood on the mound again, the second batter immediately entered the batter’s box.

‘The next batter is Oh Seok-hoon. It’s dangerous if we let this batter get on base too.’

Even considering that it was still the beginning of the game, it was not a situation to be relaxed, considering Oh Seok-hoon and Park Seong-joo who would follow.

The catcher asked for an outside ball.

Go Ji-hoon checked the sign, nodded, and threw the ball with all his might.

“Ugh!”

He felt pain in his waist, perhaps because he unknowingly put strength into it while throwing the ball.

The sudden pain also disrupted his balance, and he couldn’t throw it into the strike zone.

Thump.

“Swing strike.”

However, thanks to the opposing batter who came out swinging from the first pitch, he was able to receive a strike call because he swung wildly.

He tried to maintain a poker face as if nothing was wrong, despite the painful pain.

‘Let’s try throwing with a little less power like before.’

He checked the catcher’s sign and took a pitching stance again.

He took several breaths and calmed his breathing more than before.

He checked the runner on first base with his eyes once and then carefully threw the ball.

The batter swung the bat aggressively this time as well.

However, perhaps because he threw the ball with less power, it was flying 5km/h slower than usual.

Tick.

The batted ball, which hit the bat at an early timing, did not leave the infield and rolled towards the second baseman.

The second baseman who caught the batted ball threw it to the shortstop who was stepping on second base, and the shortstop immediately threw it to the first baseman.

“Out!”

The second base umpire stretched his fist forward, but,

“Safe!”

The first base umpire spread his arms wide.

He expected both runners to be out, but the batter arrived at first base just barely first because the batted ball rolled slowly.

The batter who arrived at first base couldn’t hide his disappointment even after stepping on first base.

“Waaaaa-”

The spectators gave generous cheers to the play, which was almost a double play.

Perhaps the spectators thought Go Ji-hoon’s crisis management skills were good.

But this was definitely just luck.

If the opposing batters noticed Go Ji-hoon’s physical condition even now, the situation would definitely be completely reversed.

One out and still a runner on first.

It was fortunate that the out count had increased by one, and the possibility of the runner stealing was not high.

He had to focus on the battle with the batter in front of him again.

Now, the third batter, Oh Seok-hoon, was entering the batter’s box.

“Oh Seok-hoon hit! Oh Seok-hoon hit!”

Unlike before, the cheering of the Buffaloes fans, who were expecting a cool hit, was heard even louder.

‘Seok-hoon is a batter with good hitting and power. We have to compete carefully even if it’s not a scoring position.’

Go Ji-hoon focused on the catcher’s sign.

“Hoo-”

While changing to a changeup grip inside his glove, he looked at the runner on first base.

Then, as he was about to throw the ball with all his might towards the catcher,

“Huh?”

Suddenly, Oh Seok-hoon took a stance as if he was going to bunt with a short bat.

Go Ji-hoon tried to throw the ball without being shaken, but the changeup, which he was trying to throw to the outside low location, went so low that it touched the ground.

Oh Seok-hoon, confirming that it was not a strike, quickly retracted his bat.

“Ball.”

It wasn’t a big problem to throw a ball from the first pitch.

‘Ha… My waist is really bad?’

The pain was felt more and more severely every time he threw the ball.

It was burdensome to throw with less power because he was competing with a strong batter.

‘What should I do?’

In fact, there was only one option that could be implemented right away.

There was no choice but to throw with less power.

He wasn’t confident in overcoming the pain if he threw as usual.

‘I have no choice. I’ll compete with a decoy ball [a pitch designed to deceive the batter].’

Go Ji-hoon finished his worries and stepped on the pitcher’s plate again.

Unlike Go Ji-hoon, who was trying to throw a decoy ball, the catcher continued to send fastball signs.

There was no choice but to shake his head until he sent a breaking ball sign.

Naturally, it took a long time to exchange signs.

Eventually, he nodded only after receiving the desired sign.

‘Let’s make the bat follow [trick the batter into swinging].’

Then he carefully threw the ball.

“Ugh!”

The ball, which did not break as much as he wanted, flew to a location that was easy for the batter to hit.

There was no way Oh Seok-hoon would miss this ball.

Thwack!

“Waaaaa- Run! Run!”

Go Ji-hoon’s head turned in the direction the ball flew.

It was far from where the right fielder was waiting.

The right fielder ran for a long time, caught the batted ball, and threw it towards the cut-off man standing in the middle.

Meanwhile, the batter and runner had plenty of time to arrive at second and third base.

“Oh Seok-hoon! Oh Seok-hoon! Oh Seok-hoon!”

The Buffaloes fans shouted as a cool hit, which they had been expecting from the beginning of the game, exploded.

Go Ji-hoon’s expression, who had entered the cover behind third base, darkened rapidly.

As he shook his head and returned to the mound, catcher Yang Hee-chan was also approaching to talk to Go Ji-hoon.

Yang Hee-chan said, covering his mouth with his glove.

“Ji-hoon, your ball is good enough today. So don’t worry and throw.”

Go Ji-hoon also knew that it was a lie to give him strength.

“Hee-chan, it seems like my fastball control isn’t working, so let’s go with breaking balls.”

“Okay, I got it. And we’re going to go thinking of walking Park Seong-joo?”

Yang Hee-chan tapped Go Ji-hoon’s shoulder with his glove to give him strength and went down the mound.

And the next batter is the fourth batter, Park Seong-joo.

Since first base was empty, there was no need to compete.

He was just going to throw decoy balls, thinking of giving up a walk.

Go Ji-hoon looked at the batter’s box to pitch.

Park Seong-joo, standing in the batter’s box with a bat, looked like he would hit any ball that came.

‘Let’s throw it clearly as a ball [intentionally miss the strike zone].’

Go Ji-hoon grabbed a slider grip and threw it towards a place far from Park Seong-joo.

But the slider didn’t curve as he wanted.

Thwack!

Park Seong-joo’s bat turned with all its might.

“To the home! To the home!”

The center fielder caught it and quickly threw it to the home, but there was no difficulty for the runner on third base, as well as Oh Seok-hoon on second base, to enter the home.

“Park Seong-joo! Park Seong-joo! Park Seong-joo!”

Park Seong-joo, who arrived at first base, enjoyed the situation by clapping his hands with a big action.

The following batters also easily hit Go Ji-hoon’s ball as if they were waiting for it.

The inning showed no signs of ending, and the runs continued to increase.

The Doubles dugout couldn’t watch any longer either.

“Ji-hoon, you’ve worked hard.”

Lee Sang-hak, who came up to the mound, patted Go Ji-hoon on the shoulder.

Already 5 runs were given up even though the first inning was not over.

It was difficult for Go Ji-hoon to say that he would throw more.

He handed the ball to Lee Sang-hak powerlessly and trudged down the mound.

“Go Ji-hoon! Go Ji-hoon! Go Ji-hoon!”

The Doubles fans cheered him on with all their might until the end, despite his poor pitching.

But Go Ji-hoon quietly entered the dugout with his head bowed.

“Ughaaaa!”

In the end, Go Ji-hoon couldn’t contain his anger and threw his glove.

The atmosphere in the dugout cooled down.

In the end, Go Ji-hoon’s remaining runners on base also scored.

0.2 innings, 7 runs.

It was the worst record since his debut.