The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 381

381. The Batter Just Throws Well (7)

Players have instincts.

In my case, I usually feel it at the plate, like, ‘Ah, I think this pitch is coming here,’ or ‘I have a feeling I’m going to be Player of the Day today.’

I talked to Ohtani before, and he said he feels that way sometimes too. And he said it’s not just wishful thinking, but a kind of comprehensive cognitive ability that comes from long-accumulated experience, and its manifestation is simply conveyed as a feeling.

I don’t have much experience as a pitcher.

I’ve felt a vague sense of, ‘Ah, this is going in,’ right after throwing, or the moment I release the ball, ‘Ah, this pitch is going to be great,’ but I’ve never felt such a strong instinct as when I’m at the plate.

And right now.

For the first time, I felt a strong instinct as a pitcher.

‘Ah, I think I’ve screwed up.’

The feeling was different from the previous at-bat. What should I say? A sense of being stuck, like, where the heck should I throw the ball? Ah, of course, it wasn’t like this from the beginning.

First pitch.

Outside corner, full count. I placed the ball there perfectly.

-Clang!!!

A massive foul ball that barely hooked outside the right field foul pole.

My heart sank for a moment. What put even more pressure on me was Ohtani’s expression, which showed no regret despite the huge foul. He was completely focused.

I threw the ball deep inside. I almost hit him with a pitch because I slipped a little, but Ohtani avoided the ball with incredible reflexes.

─!#%^@$%!@

A tremendous amount of swearing and jeering erupted from the crowd. The gist of it was about not throwing inside if you can’t control it, but the swearing felt three times stronger than the words themselves. I even saw someone trying to charge out from the Dodgers’ dugout.

─Noo!!!

Ah, of course, Ohtani didn’t shout like that. It was his resolute gesture towards the Dodgers’ dugout that implied it. I didn’t feel like it meant everything was okay. It was closer to meaning that he was concentrating so much right now, so don’t bother him.

He stepped back into the batter’s box.

Ohtani Shohei is 6’4″ (193cm) tall. Naturally, his strike zone is as big as his height, which isn’t small.

But even it felt too small.

I couldn’t see a place to throw.

Both the outside and inside low corners seemed hopeless, and I felt like the high ones would be blasted over the fence as soon as I threw them.

Ah, there was one safe place.

-Whoosh!!!

A curveball that dropped beautifully from a high angle.

Ohtani Shohei’s bat stayed still.

Ball count 2-1.

I glanced at the manager in the dugout.

His expressionless face nodded once, as if saying, ‘Yes, I believe in you.’

I don’t think there’s any need to trust me so firmly in this situation, but in fact, this is all my fault.

Earlier, in our offensive inning, the manager asked me in the dugout.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, my condition is great today.”

Yes, clearly, only then was my condition really great.

In fact, you can’t have bad condition when you’re no-hitting in the World Series. Even bad condition would have improved.

Anyway, from the manager’s point of view, a pitcher who is no-hitting in the World Series said that his condition was the best right before, so he couldn’t *not* believe it.

Anyway, it’s a big crisis in many ways.

Now that it’s come to this, should I just trust the defense and throw it? It’s not the Marlins, so it’s okay sometimes, right?

Or should I just think about giving up a walk and throw it outside a bit?

Why, it’s embarrassing to run away, but sometimes it helps, right? Well, they’ve never faced me before, so there’s no reason for me to face them perfectly every time. Yes, maybe my sense of crisis suddenly blooming now is proof that I’ve become a pitcher who takes it one step further by recognizing the moment to avoid it.

Ohtani Shohei looked at me.

I know that look.

Because it’s the look I often give to pitchers.

─Chicken?

Ah, so that’s how those guys felt.

Damn it.

Yes, I’ve made all sorts of excuses, but honestly, I didn’t want to back down. I used to think that starting pitchers were arrogant [literally, ‘dirty’] bastards with only inflated pride, so they were obviously exhausted, but they didn’t even think about coming down from the mound, and they always blamed others for their mistakes.

Of course, that thought hasn’t changed even now. What *has* changed is that maybe I’m one of those personality-flawed people.

From a rational point of view, it’s right to just avoid it here. After all, the no-hitter won’t be broken.

I briefly imagined myself in Ohtani’s position, standing in the batter’s box.

Ah, of course, this is a very generous evaluation with my full affection for Ohtani. Honestly, even if you add +@ to Ohtani in his prime, he can’t be at the same level as me now.

In other words, I was imagining the most powerful hitter I could imagine.

The answer came out.

But unfortunately, it wasn’t the answer that came from me on the mound, but the answer that came from the assumption that I was at the plate, which was that I could hit any ball that came.

I got a small comfort with the realization that I am a crazy hitter who can’t even accurately assess myself, and that I’m so glad I don’t have to face myself.

And I shook my head a few times.

And I look at the real Ohtani Shohei again.

It’s much better. Yes, it’s better to face Ohtani than to divide myself in half and face the other half. This is a great comfort.

There was still no clear answer, but when I thought about what choice I would make if I were me right now, I saw one way.

A ball that goes just outside the strike zone.

-Whoosh!!!

Ohtani Shohei’s bat didn’t move.

Of course, the umpire’s hand didn’t go up either.

Ball count 3-1

Okay, Ohtani Shohei.

Show me what you’ve got.

A curveball that bounces in the dirt.

I could tell just from Ohtani’s stance after I threw the ball.

This guy knew what that ball was.

-Whoosh!!!

But the bat swung.

“Strike!!!”

Ball count 3-2.

It was as expected. If I were me, I would swing the bat here. Even if a ridiculous ball comes out, I swing the bat. It’s the feeling of, ‘I’m going to make a full count, but are you still going to back down, chicken?’

I don’t know if Ohtani feels the same way. Anyway, that guy is a little more by-the-book than me. Or maybe he’s a guy closer to the main character of a *shonen manga* [a genre of Japanese comics/animation typically aimed at a young male audience], so he might be thinking something like, ‘Don’t even think about backing down. The direction of today’s game… I’ll decide it with my match against you,’ like a *chuunibyou* [a Japanese term for someone who acts like they have special powers or knowledge].

Anyway, whatever it is, it’s now a full count.

There’s only one ball left.

I took a breath and concentrated, and concentrated again.

I didn’t feel that crazy exhilaration that I sometimes feel at the plate. I didn’t feel that ridiculous feeling that everything around me was quiet and there was only the pitcher and me in the world. The stadium was still noisy, and I was standing alone on the highest mound on the ground.

Sixth inning.

There was only one choice.

The breaking ball I’ve thrown the most since I became a pro. And it was a curve that I heard was really great three times today.

I don’t know if this curve I threw now was perfect.

However, one thing is certain: it was much more complete than the ball I threw right before. It’s not just a feeling. It’s an undeniable fact.

And the reason I can be so sure of that is because the ball I threw earlier was a trap I had in mind. It was too obvious a trap in that I was thinking of throwing a curve as a finishing pitch, but I showed one more curve before that.

But the reason why obvious things always come out is because they are the norm. And since I’ve shown tricks in the previous two at-bats, what I can show this time is the norm.

More subtly at the moment of release.

And more powerfully.

Ohtani Shohei already knows that I throw two types of curves.

Since the previous curve was a curve with a large drop that bounced once, he could think that this slightly different curve that I threw this time was a curve that creates lateral movement by adjusting the axis of rotation. Or he could think that the fact that I induced such a thought was a trap.

Anyway, whatever it was, I forced him to have as many choices as possible.

Ah, of course, the ball I threw now is the best ball I can throw.

The fastest and most intensely falling curveball that I didn’t really care about the axis of rotation or anything like that.

-Clang!!!!

And Ohtani Shohei’s bat connected with my ball.

At that moment, I thought, ‘I did my best, so I can’t help it.’

I didn’t feel any relief at all.

My finger pointed to the batted ball.

I had a feeling it was going to go over, but still, my finger pointed to the batted ball. The thoughts, ‘Anyway, if you can’t catch it, it’s the outfielder’s fault,’ ‘If it goes over, it’s because the baseball field is the size of a table tennis table,’ filled my head.

Yes, at this moment, I was a perfect starting pitcher that no one could deny.

The batted ball soared.

And Mike Trout ran to the fence one step faster than the ball.

I don’t know what that old outfielder was thinking and feeling at that moment. But one thing is certain: he jumped up as if reminiscent of his prime, and his glove perfectly caught the falling batted ball.

─Yeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ah, this time it wasn’t the shouts of the spectators in the stadium.

A shriek at the level that I wondered if such a loud sound could come from one person’s body came out of the mouth of the always gentle 37-year-old center fielder.

The greatest career among all players who debuted in the 21st century.

Overwhelming performance that ranks in the top five in Major League history.

And 0 World Series appearances.

Yes, maybe that roar was an expression of the complex feelings towards this World Series stage that he was finally able to step on after throwing everything away. The crowd responded half a beat late to the huge roar of the old lion, who had never set foot on the World Series stage for 17 years until he moved teams this year.

It was as if the atmosphere was that the game was over with just that one play. It was a little uncomfortable. No, that’s because it’s still the bottom of the 7th inning. And even that bottom of the 7th inning wasn’t over with just two outs.

Above all, today’s main character is me, who is recording a no-hitter, but it’s a bit rude to act like the main character just because I made a good play, right? Well, I don’t know if they scored a lot of points. Anyway, those fielders.

Whether they did or not, I didn’t get caught up in the atmosphere and really sincerely focused on the opposing batter. Was it because I got rid of the mental burden of Ohtani Shohei? I was able to strike out Diego Vegas really easily.

-Whoosh!!

“Strike!! Out!!”

[9th pitch curve!! Swinging strikeout!! Choi Su-won really struggled to catch Diego Vegas and blocked the Dodgers’ attack in the bottom of the 7th inning.]

[Choi Su-won. He threw 19 balls in this inning alone. That’s a total of 97 pitches. It’s not good. Pitch count management is not going well.]

[Okay, top of the 8th inning. The Yankees are attacking again. The score is still 0:0. David Steele is back on the mound.]

[At the plate is the 5th batter. Aaron Judge. Aaron Judge is coming up.]

[Okay, Aaron Judge. It’s really time to show something now.]

And in the top of the 8th inning.

Aaron Judge, who was at the plate, finally showed something.