When It's Time to Run (7)
Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep.
"Run!"
Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep.
"Run!"
[Pickoff attempt to first!]
"Safe!"
"Boooooo! Throw it to the plate already!"
Anyone stepping into a baseball stadium for the first time might have sworn they had wandered onto a battlefield. The home fans were on fire.
Daejeon Hawks Park had returned to square one, locked in a bloodbath. The crowd that had just watched their hitters knot the score was already demanding more.
[On the mound, the new pitcher: Park Heungmin.]
"…"
Thwack—!
"Ball!"
[He's off—perfect jump! Safe! Lee Hajun steals second!]
[With submarine pitcher Park Heungmin on the mound, that steal attempt was never going to be difficult. Manager Woo Jincheol must have known what he was getting into when he brought him in—just try to get the batter somehow.]
Hajun's jump had been so early he simply stood up and walked into second base. Park Heungmin went through the motions of a pickoff, but he clearly had no real intention of catching the runner at first.
[Can they push across the go-ahead run, or will they snuff this out and live to fight another day…]
The Warriors' most reliable arm, Park Heungmin. His pitch started low and climbed toward the catcher's mitt.
Crack—!
[A broken-bat flare!]
"Out!"
A sinker that just kissed the dirt in front of the plate. Park Heungmin, drawing on every basic skill a submarine pitcher uses to devour right-handed hitters, put out the fire.
[Three outs! But in the bottom of the seventh, back-to-back RBI hits from Park Jisu and Lee Hajun have tied it for the Daejeon Hawks!]
[Nobody's safe until the final out of the ninth tonight.]
The Hawks' once-raging home crowd finally settled into a simmer. Time for both bullpens to do their jobs.
Top of the eighth.
Thwack—!
"Strikeout!"
[The bat cuts nothing but air—Han Wonhyeong shuts down the inning!]
Bottom of the eighth.
Crack—!
"Out!"
[A ball that never leaves the infield! Kwak Jaewoo calmly fires to first for the out.]
[Park Heungmin's stuff is really biting tonight.]
After a three-up, three-down top of the eighth, Hawks fans had high hopes for the bottom half. What they heard instead was the roar of the Warriors' traveling fans cheering their pitcher for emptying the tank.
The heat that had scorched both sides in different ways finally cooled. The cold innings ended too.
Unless you are rooting for the team that is losing, nobody loves extra innings. And so the ninth arrived—the inning everyone wanted to end it.
Thwack—!
"Strikeout!"
[Inside fastball! Go Minjae records the first out!]
Crack!
A soft contact. Even though the ball found the sweet spot of the bat, there was no power behind it. Hajun gloved the ball coming to his left on the backhand and calmly threw to first.
"Out!"
[Three outs! Go Minjae calmly retires the side in the top of the ninth!]
[Regardless of where the team sits in the standings, Go Minjae has been a rock of stability all season.]
"Nice work!"
"Yes, sir."
Hajun answered Go Minjae with a smile. As the Hawks filed into the dugout to wait for their turn at the plate, their expressions were far from grim. A home team's last at-bat always shines brightest in the ninth.
"We can finish this right here. Let's end it in style, boys—all together!"
Dae! Jeon! Hawks!
The cheerleader demanded the fans scream until their throats gave out—anything to give the hitters a little extra juice, or to rattle the opposing pitcher and defense.
Thwack—!
"Strikeout!"
[Fastball right down the middle—strike three! Shim Jaehun records the first out!]
But the man tasked with closing the ninth for the Daegu Warriors was right-hander Shim Jaehun. He shattered the Hawks fans' hopes of manufacturing a quick chance.
[And now… here he comes.]
Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!
Even with two outs and the bases empty, every time the Hawks' lineup turned over, expectation still rose.
[Lee Hajun—three-for-three with a walk today, on base every single time.]
Because that turn always began with Lee Hajun.
"Hoo…"
Once again Hajun hoped someone in the bottom of the order would get on base for him. But baseball never gives you everything you want.
Tap. Tap.
He kicked the dirt of the batter's box—dirt that countless hitters had already stood on—then leveled his bat at the mound the way a hunter raises a rifle at prey.
Wonder if he still remembers.
It had not even been that long. That at-bat in the second team when he had ripped a hit off the very same Shim Jaehun standing sixty feet away. The at-bat that had flooded him with confidence.
"…"
[Shim Jaehun is loosening up his legs as well.]
Before even throwing the first pitch, Shim Jaehun turned slightly to the side and came back.
I never thought it would be this fast.
Shim Jaehun thought back. Even in the minors the kid had looked different, but to rise this quickly…
His faith in his own fastball rivaled that of any major-league closer. That was why he still remembered the pinch-runner who had squared up that fastball with a perfectly unshakable swing.
[This could be the biggest at-bat of the night. First pitch!]
But this is different from last time.
Hit it if you can.
I am Shim Jaehun—the closer who throws the highest percentage of four-seamers in the league and still ranks among the very best.
Crack—!
[He pulled it!]
Lee Gyuho had called for something in on the hands. The pitch ordered was, of course, a fastball.
But Shim Jaehun could never have dreamed that the same Lee Hajun who had so easily handled his crowded fastball before had, in the meantime, evolved another level with a silver skill set—
And that—
First-pitch fastball, just like I thought!
—he had been hunting that exact first-pitch heater from the moment he stepped into the box.
[A laser—fair ball!]
"Aaaaaaaah!"
The launch angle was not high. But the pulled line drive shot through the first-base hole like a bullet. And just like the ball he had just crushed, Hajun touched first and never slowed, flying toward second.
Even with two outs it still mattered. With one out it would have been absolute.
[Lee Hajun is going for third!]
The right fielder's throw came in sharp and true. Hajun never felt he had time to spare—he never did—but of course—
"Safe!"
—it was just enough.
[At third! At third! Safe at third! Lee Hajun's triple with one out!]
[Hahahaha, this is something else.]
[A triple for Lee Hajun's fourth hit of the night! He shows up exactly when the team needs him and delivers exactly when it counts.]
"Lee Hajun! Lee Hajun! Lee Hajun!"
They chanted his name and belted out the hastily written cheer song they had thrown together because no one had expected him to be this good this fast. They wished they could swap it out for something better, but for now nothing else fit.
The bottom of the eighth had been a letdown. Yet the mere thought of this player coming up had kept hope alive. That was why they had prayed for a clean top of the ninth. The Hawks home fans' desperate wish had finally been answered.
"…"
Hajun was elated—but he kept half of it in reserve, saving it for the moment the next hitter finished the job.
[Look at that calm expression. He just tripled off Shim Jaehun and it barely registers.]
[That kind of focus and immersion might be the secret behind his awakening.]
Hajun knew exactly what the team needed from him. Hitting was hitting; baserunning was baserunning. Once he reached base, he had to gamble everything on taking the extra bag the way he had in his Lakers days—especially when that extra base could decide the game.
[The Hawks are sending up a pinch hitter?]
[An Junpyo steps in.]
[What are we looking at here?]
[Faster feet and a better small-ball player in An Junpyo. This is them saying, loud and clear, that they are not going to play it straight.]
A shortstop by trade who was never quite a regular. A man known as the embodiment of fighting spirit. An Junpyo—an infielder still thrashing for survival in the Korean first division with no guaranteed future—answered Manager Park Taesik's call and stepped into the box.
[Infield in. They're playing to cut the run down at the plate.]
With a runner as fast as the one on third, almost any ordinary fly ball to the outfield ends the game. There was no reason not to take the fight to the infield. And the pinch-hitter itself screamed "bunt or something tricky."
"…"
An Junpyo stood in the box with an unreadable expression.
[Shim Jaehun, first pitch!]
This isn't over!
A triple is a shock. But as the closer, he would not allow a single run no matter what.
Crack—!
[Squared up! An Junpyo!]
Baseball never follows the script. There was no play on. Shim Jaehun left a pitch over the heart of the plate. An Junpyo chopped a line drive with a high probability of becoming a hit—a perfect victory for the batter.
Except the ball went almost straight at the left fielder, who barely had to move.
A well-struck ball hit right at someone. On any other night the fans would have groaned. Tonight was different.
[Chae Yongbin has it—and he's coming home!]
Chae Yongbin charged in, fielded the ball cleanly, and fired. Lee Gyuho stretched high for the throw and lunged just as Lee Hajun's hand, diving headfirst, slapped the plate.
"Kyaaaaaaaaaah!"
[Safe at home! Safe at home! And that is how this game ends!]
Screams and raw, throat-tearing roars threatened to tear Daejeon Hawks Park apart.
"Uwaaaaaaah!"
Lee Hajun clenched his fist and roared. Even after this scorching summer faded, Hawks fans would never forget this series against the Daegu Warriors—and this was how it ended.
"Batting first! Lee Hajun! Hit—Lee Hajun!"
Wheeeee! Wheeeee!
Because it was the only dome stadium in Korea, the whistle blasts carried perfectly.
Click! Click!
Camera flashes popped as if a celebrity had just walked out.
[Lee Hajun, the heart of the Hawks' surge—can he do it again?]
[The Highlanders pitchers have nowhere to throw tonight. He sprays hits left, center, and right like he's painting a picture.]
[On the mound: Kang Taewoong!]
Desperate to stop Lee Hajun and spark a comeback, Seoul Highlanders pitcher Kang Taewoong delivered.
Crack—!
Slider, just like I thought!
Hajun went with the pitch and punched the outside-zone slider the other way. Two swings and misses earlier, and now they try to paint the black with it? That was pure disrespect.
[Single in front of the left fielder! Lee Hajun goes five-for-five today!]
[He makes a lefty's slider look that easy…]
[Lee Hajun records his first five-hit game of his career—and the runner who can put the final nail in tonight's coffin is now on base.]
Since joining the Hawks he had been hitting over .400. His stolen-base success rate still sat at a perfect one hundred percent. Somewhere along the way, Lee Hajun had become a constant for the Hawks.
And then—
Thwack—!
"Strikeout!"
[Strike three! Ballgame! Go Minjae protects the win once again! The Daejeon Hawks take the series!]
[The Hawks walk away with so much today.]
[Dazzling debut from new foreign pitcher Estrada. Lee Hajun's bat still scorching. A rock-solid bullpen. This surge is nowhere near finished.]
Estrada, who had just completed his Korean baseball debut with seven innings, one run, and ten strikeouts, smiled easily.
A winning series against the Gwangju Kings.
A sweep of the Daegu Warriors.
A winning series against the Busan Clippers.
And now a sweep of the Seoul Highlanders.
Four straight series victories—including the final series of the first half—and the Hawks kept right on rolling.
"The seniors make it easy for me. That's why the results keep coming."
Named MVP of the game, Hajun smiled through the postgame interview. Since the next series was also in Seoul, he planned to have a relaxed dinner with his parents that evening.
"The next road series, you mean?"
…
Hajun decided this was not the moment for jokes.
"I have a lot of good memories from my time with the Lakers. I'm looking forward to it."
Even if he had only been a baseball fan, this weekend was going to be a hell of a lot of fun to watch.