When It's Time to Run (6)
Crack!
Bottom of the first, 3–0.
Down by three runs, the Daejeon Hawks' cleanup hitter Kim Dongseong stepped in and swung.
"Out!"
A weak grounder rolls toward shortstop Gwak Jaewoo, who casually fires it over. Three outs!
The leadoff man got on, and they still come up empty. A painful result for the Hawks. For the Warriors — and for Luis — an outstanding start.
One team that needs to control the game, one that needs to disrupt it. On to the top of the second.
Lee Hajun's leadoff single put him on base.
Hawks fans applauded him for answering their faith once again and waited for a run to follow. But the second, third, and fourth hitters all went down quiet — another zero on the board.
Most of the Hawks faithful were already thinking the same thing: tonight was going to be a grind.
"Hoo…"
"…"
On the Hawks' mound stood Oh Junsu. Behind the plate, catcher's mask on, was Hwang Jaewon. The pitch count was already creeping toward fifty. The sweltering heat and the early deficit only made every duel with a hitter that much harder.
Two outs, runner on first. At the plate: Woo Jaechun, who already has a hit today.
Sweat already pouring off him, Oh Junsu delivered.
Pop!
"Strike three!"
Low and away — clips the zone! Strikeout!
Whew.
Hajun headed into the dugout with an awkward little smile. For an inning that had started with just one baserunner, it had felt endless. Full count, the pitch looked just off — but the call came back a strike. Lucky break.
It was a hard game. But eventually, the chance would come. The way his own at-bat always came back around.
Crack!
The moment Hawks' ninth hitter, catcher Hwang Jaewon, swung — the fastball sank just enough and caught the bottom of the bat.
He got wood on it, but of course — infield grounder.
"Out!"
What the passionately cheering Hawks fans saw, once again, was a lifeless infield ground ball and an infielder taking it with all the time in the world.
Hwang Jaewon is retired — that's eight straight batters Luis has set down!
Luis's sinker is dancing out there today. Even when hitters think they've timed it, they just can't square it up.
After their glory years had given way to a dark age, the Warriors had poured everything into developing young position players to rebuild a dynasty. For the past several years, that investment had been blooming. They were so confident in their infield defense that they actively sought out ground-ball pitchers.
Two outs, nobody on. At the plate: Lee Hajun!
"Sss… haa."
Hajun took a deep breath. Ideally, there would have been a runner on. Or he would have come up with nobody out. But that meant nothing now, so he shook the noise out of his head.
Get on base. Somehow.
In the end, all you could do was fight for the best possible result in the situation you were given.
"Our Lee Hajun is going to shake things up for us! Let's hear it, everybody!"
"Number one hitter! Lee Hajun! Hit! Lee Hajun!"
Not an empty seat in the Daejeon Hawks' cheering section. The roar carried a plea inside it — please, do something about this suffocating game.
Luis has been outstanding today, but he did give up a hit to Lee Hajun in the first.
A clean, well-struck single. Even with two outs, putting a runner that fast on base is always dangerous.
Here comes Luis's first pitch!
Pop!
"Strike!"
"…"
That was a strike?
Hajun had been certain the ball was running deep into him, off the plate. The result: a sinker painted on the inner edge for a strike. ABS didn't lie.
Hahaha — what movement on that sinker! Luis freezes him for a first-pitch strike!
Hajun's been locked in at the plate lately, but a pitch like that has to rattle anyone.
Yeah. This isn't going to be easy.
Hajun cracked a grin.
And there's the smile from Lee Hajun.
You see a pitch like that and the laugh just comes out, doesn't it? Heh. By the way — young women fans must love this guy.
The camera closed in as Hajun smiled. Only he truly understood what it meant — but for everyone except the people who'd put money on the Hawks, it was a face worth smiling along with.
Hajun reset his stance and waited for the next pitch.
The moment the ball left the pitcher's hand—
Same spot!
He was sure it was another sinker running in on him.
Crack!
But even for a pitcher with elite command, burying the exact same pitch in the exact same location twice in a row was no simple thing.
Well-struck — base hit into right field! Back-to-back hits for Lee Hajun!
The scoreboard flashed 150 km/h on the sinker. A good pitch — but it had drifted a little more toward the middle than the last one, and Hajun's bat had found it.
Luis's monstrous sinker looks easy when Lee Hajun is the one hitting it.
Was that smile earlier because he thought he could hit it? Hahahaha.
Pop!
Runner's going!
Luis's curveball dropped out of the zone. Catcher Lee Gyuho didn't even have a chance to throw.
Lee Hajun steals second!
He gets it this time. There just wasn't much of an opportunity in the first.
Hajun hits, Hajun runs. Now the question is whether Kim Yuntae can answer the call.
Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!
A stolen base while down three runs. The fans clapped and hammered their cheering sticks as if someone had just hit a home run — as if a clutch RBI single had just dropped. More than simply manufacturing a scoring chance, Hajun's play had cooled the tight, frustrated chests of every Hawks fan in the building.
Crack!
The second hitter, Kim Yuntae, turned on a sinker running in on him. Elite stuff. Elite command. But once the ball left the bat, if it didn't go foul, the pitcher had no say in where it went.
Jammed — but it drops in front of the left fielder for a hit!
It wasn't a clean barrel, but Kim Yuntae had finished his swing with a full follow-through, and the result was a single that found the grass between shortstop and left field.
The runner from second was already in motion! No play at the plate — he's in! Kim Yuntae's RBI single cuts the lead to one!
Good thing he didn't bail on the swing.
One run manufactured by Lee Hajun's legs — this is what separates these Hawks from the old ones.
Hajun high-fived his teammates and headed into the dugout.
Good.
Luis's sinker was genuinely hard to hit. The curveball had vicious movement too — if the count had gotten away from him, dealing with it would have been a nightmare. At first the pitch had been so nasty he'd laughed without meaning to. The next one had leaked a little toward the middle, and he'd been able to put it in play.
If we can push more across here…
Crack!
He pulled it!
"Ooooh!"
The contact was so pure the entire dugout rose as one.
"Out!"
"Aah…"
But the screaming line drive went straight at third baseman Kim Hojung and vanished into his glove.
Park Jinhyeok absolutely crushed that one — but a lineout to third ends the inning!
If that gets through it's extra bases for sure. Heartbreak for the Hawks, and the Warriors just aged ten years.
Still — they clawed one back and showed some fight. On to the top of the fourth.
If Kim Hojung had been even a single step off the third-base line, that rocket would have ripped through. The Hawks had wanted 3–2. They settled for 3–1, and had to start thinking about what came next.
Crack!
Top of the fourth. Warriors' third hitter Chae Yongbin uncoiled a ferocious swing.
He got all of it — over the right fielder! It's gone! Two-run homer for Chae Yongbin!
The instant the ball left the bat, right fielder Kim Yuntae could only stare after it in empty resignation.
That's why they call him the heart of the Warriors — Captain Chae Yongbin!
They give up one, and immediately the Warriors answer with two more… ah, that is a punch straight to the Hawks' solar plexus.
Oh Junsu's head dropped even lower than it had after the three-run shot in the first. The inner-half fastball he'd thrown with full confidence sailed over the wall the same way it had earlier.
"…"
The crack of the bat had been so clean — so pure it was almost unpleasant — that Hajun could only shake his head in silence.
I've done enough for today, right?
A multi-hit game, a stolen base. And the team already had two wins in the series.
Pitching change for the Hawks — Kim Seungyeop!
Still only the fourth inning, down four runs, and he's going to his high-leverage arm Kim Seungyeop… Manager Park Taesik has no intention of giving this game away.
Kim Seungyeop, owner of a heavy fastball. After closer Go Minjae, he was the next most trusted arm in the Hawks' pen behind Han Wonhyeong and Park Sihye. The series was already won — but Park Taesik was looking past it.
Crack!
He pulled it!
But Ryan, as if mocking the move, ripped a clean single that cleared the infield in a hurry.
"…"
The third baseman started after it for half a second, then stopped. You didn't get in the way of the shortstop — the heart of the infield. Hajun opened his range wide and chased.
But I can do better than this!
Oh — Lee Hajun lays out and snags it! And the throw to first—!
Hajun speared the ball and fired to first in one fluid motion.
"Out!"
He's out! Out! Spectacular play by Lee Hajun!
Oh, that is beautiful — the catch alone is incredible, and then a no-hop throw from there?
Even on a well-struck ball, Ryan hadn't dogged it down the line. But Hajun had dived, cut it off, and finished the play with that strong arm.
Waaaaah! Lee Hajun! Lee Hajun!
The score was still 5–1, but the Hawks fans roared as if their team had never given up a run at all. The Warriors' fans couldn't hide their bewilderment.
The starter who'd surrendered a home run was pulled. The trusted bullpen arm immediately allowed a baserunner. A scenario that was starting to unravel — and the team's new shortstop had just stitched it back together.
Pop!
"Strike three!"
Strikeout! K! K! Kim Seungyeop is dealing pure gas!
After that unbelievable play by Lee Hajun, the whole atmosphere has shifted.
Kim Seungyeop punched out the Warriors' five- and six-hitters, then pumped his fist and strode into the dugout.
Kim Seungyeop is roaring — he's calling for a comeback tonight!
The inning in which the Warriors had padded their lead by two was over. And still, the louder cheers belonged to the Hawks.
Crack!
A well-placed opposite-field single — Ji Gyeongjun brings Kim Dongseong home! 5–2!
Pop!
"Strike three!"
Three fastballs! Three strikes! Park Sihye blows through the jam with a 158 km/h heater!
After crisis, opportunity.
Bottom of the seventh, and the Daejeon Hawks had manufactured a chance.
And of course — Manager Park Taesik plays the Park Jisu card.
He's been saving him for a moment just like this. Can he deliver?
The Hawks' lower half of the order had ground out a two-out, runners-on-second-and-third situation. Park Taesik sent up the pinch-hitter he trusted most: Park Jisu.
Pop!
"Ball!"
Missed — full count!
They're making him work for it.
Looking at who's on deck, they probably have to challenge him here, right?
The Warriors do have lefty-killer Kim Jeongsu in the pen, but given how locked in Lee Hajun has been today… there's no real reason to dodge this matchup.
"…"
In the box, Park Jisu calmly worked the count.
They'd be better off dealing with me.
In the on-deck circle, a certain someone who'd drawn a walk last time up and never gotten the chance to swing was already eyeing his prey.
Two outs, full count, score 5–2!
Warriors pitcher Go Seokmin delivered.
Crack!
A fastball painted on the outer edge. Exactly the pitch Park Jisu had been hunting.
Well-struck — heading right!
It gets through!
The ball cleared the right fielder's reach for a hit.
The runner from third is already home — and the runner from second scores too! Park Jisu's clutch double makes it 5–4, a one-run game!
While the Hawks' home crowd was already screaming with the next hitter in mind, Park Jisu kept his celebration to a modest little flourish — just enough to stoke the fire.
Pitching change for the Warriors.
Once a highly touted prospect, now working primarily as a lefty specialist: left-hander Kim Jeongsu. And the hitter who would face him was already decided.
"Lee Hajun! Lee Hajun! Lee Hajun!"
"Louder!"
The cheer captain and the cheerleaders waved their arms hard enough to nearly dislocate their shoulders, and the fans joined in, praying for a game-tying hit.
Lee Hajun steps in — he's reached base in all three of his plate appearances today.
Heh. Can you hear that roar from the fans? What a spectacle.
"…"
Hajun calmly settled into his stance and locked eyes on the pitcher.
Strange.
The skill set he'd met in his dreams hadn't rewritten his personality. Experience was the same way. And that was what made it interesting. Standing in the box with this much expectation on him for the first time — somehow he wasn't scared, wasn't shaking. If anything, he felt like he'd been waiting for this exact moment.
Lee Hajun arrives to a thunderous ovation. Can he tie this game?
The first pitch is everything here.
Kim Jeongsu uncoiled his dynamic delivery and fired. A slider diving down and away.
Crack!
Away and perfect would have been ideal. Even without perfect side-to-side location, if it had just stayed down, it would have been a fine pitch.
He got it! It finds a hole — base hit!
But the price of imperfect execution was brutal. Lee Hajun had surgically attacked the slider that drifted down the middle, and the screaming line drive shot back through the box, ignoring Kim Jeongsu entirely as it rocketed up the middle. A few inches higher and the lefty's bare hand would have been in serious trouble.
"AAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Lee Hajun's single. Park Jisu's sprint. A roar from the Hawks fans that was half scream, half pure release, shook the park.
Park Jisu scores — 5–5, tied! Lee Hajun answers every single expectation the fans had for him!
How on earth are you supposed to get this guy out?
Warriors fans clutched their heads. A pitcher pulled without finishing the job. Hawks Park, which had been briefly seized, was reclaimed by the home crowd once more.