Korean Series Game 3
"Well, well… would you look at that?"
"Ball four."
After giving up a hit to leadoff batter Jo Chang-jun, Visner walked Choi Min-gi. You could tell just by watching—his command was completely gone.
Hmm… looks like I had it wrong. Maybe putting Kwon Jong-jin out there wasn't a calculated gamble at all. Maybe they just had no other choice…?
When Kwon Jong-jin took the mound in Game 2 of the Korean Series, I'd assumed Manager Oh Jeong-geun had rolled the dice and lost—while Manager Park had answered by throwing me out there and winning the wager.
But that didn't seem to be the case. From the look of things, Grant Visner's condition really had been a mess, just like Manager Oh said in his interview.
A whole little novel started writing itself in my head.
Game 1 ends, and the next day they go to put Visner on the mound—only he's a wreck. They consider someone else, but Marte is too strong. So they reluctantly settle on Kwon Jong-jin. Kwon himself would have said he could handle it, of course.
Then, right before the game, Marte is scratched with an injury and I'm the one who takes the mound instead. Everything unravels, and they get crushed.
In short, from Manager Oh Jeong-geun's perspective, it was the messiest game imaginable.
Manager Park, on the other hand—had he somehow gotten wind of Visner's condition problems ahead of time? I had no idea how, but somehow.
That would explain how he could suddenly tell me to prepare as a starter…
Maybe he'd prepped two starters—me in case Kwon Jong-jin appeared, Marte if Visner or anyone else took the ball.
In the end, Game 2 went exactly the way Manager Park had wanted from the start: me versus Kwon Jong-jin. And the result was a win.
One by one, the things that had made no sense started falling into place.
Whether my theory was right or pure fantasy, I had no idea—but figuring something out felt good either way.
After delaying his start by two full days, Visner was finally on the mound for Game 3… and he still didn't look recovered.
"Ball."
I stepped into the box with runners on first and second, nobody out. The first pitch came screaming in on my hands.
I jerked back and barely got out of the way.
I knew it wasn't intentional. The series was 2–0—no way anyone was throwing at me on purpose in the first inning. If they'd wanted to hurt me, they would have aimed somewhere more dangerous. The ball had been headed for my thigh.
Just a plain old command failure.
"Ball."
Two balls in a row.
"Haa… timeout, please."
Raiders catcher Kim Gyeong-seok politely asked the home plate umpire and headed for the mound. The Raiders' pitching coach came out of the dugout to join him.
I drifted over toward the on-deck circle, rubbing pine tar onto my bat, and spoke to the captain.
"His command is completely shot."
"Yeah. We can shrink the zone a bit."
"I'll wait him out for now. Heh."
"Alright~ But if something good comes in, send it."
"Yes, sir!"
After that short exchange with the captain, I stepped back into the box. Kim Gyeong-seok settled back behind the plate, and Visner went back to work.
The instant the ball left Visner's hand, I knew. This one was coming in to grab a strike.
I couldn't explain why—the feeling just hit hard.
So what pitch? Four-seamer? No… Visner's bread and butter was the cutter.
A lefty throwing a cutter to a right-handed hitter like me. Outside was out of the question. He'd dig it in on my hands. But if I got lucky, it might leak over the middle… and with Visner's command this shot today, anything was possible.
And "anything" showed up.
CRACK!!!
Kang Hajin! Where's the ball going—where is it—over the center-field wall! Kang Hajin's three-run homer! The Savers take the lead in the first inning yet again!
He was sitting on that pitch completely. Visner tried too honestly to get a strike. Even if that was his best cutter, you can't leave one right down the middle against Kang Hajin—he doesn't miss those.
The count was in my favor anyway, so I'd swung with conviction. The ball that luckily floated into the heart of the zone left my bat without any real sensation of contact and sailed all the way to the far edge of the park, where it buried itself in the seats.
"I was going to leave something for you, Cap, but it came in too juicy. Heh."
"Good job. You eat those."
"Yessir~"
CRACK!
Seo Gyeongmin's ball drops in front of the center fielder. Seo Gyeongmin hustles into first! The Savers' lineup is still on fire!
Nobody out. That was another two-seamer that leaked right over the middle. Visner's in real trouble here.
The Raiders' bullpen is scrambling. Pitchers starting to get loose in a hurry.
Min Gyeong-hak is warming up—the guy who held down the fifth starter job all season long.
Unfortunately, the first out came on a double play. Park Jeonghun's mishit grounder rolled straight to the shortstop, and it was 6-4-3. Two outs.
But Kim Tae-seong stepped up next and cleared the right-field wall for another run. Score: 4–0.
By that point, the Raiders fans who'd been raining down boos had gone quiet. Something about the air had gone out of them—like the fight had drained away.
Lee Won-jeong flew out to end the top of the first.
Then Marte took the mound.
Before the game, I'd carefully asked him about what happened in Game 2—why he'd done what he did. His answer:
"But we won, didn't we?"
He'd said it with a bright smile. It was impressive, somehow. On a normal day he was just a chatty foreign guy, but…
Whatever the reason, a win was a win. I still didn't understand why someone like that would grumble about me not batting when he pitched… but today, he looked enormous.
Anyway—that Marte was on the mound. And his first pitch:
WHAP!
"Oh, shit."
"What the hell was that."
"One-sixty? All of a sudden?"
"He couldn't throw that once all season and he does it here?"
That old man had just casually uncorked a 160 km/h fastball out of nowhere. The stadium went dead quiet.
"Stri~ke!"
"Ball."
"Stri~ke! Out!"
Marte punched out the leadoff hitter like it was nothing. His face was as bright as it had been all season.
"His stuff is filthy today."
"No kidding."
"He could've pitched Game 2 like this."
"……"
Jeong Jong-seong probably held his tongue because the man himself was right there. But honestly, if Marte had thrown like this, Game 2 wouldn't have been a problem either.
"Out!"
"Out!"
The bottom of the first ended without incident.
"This is your last at-bat."
"Yes, sir."
Top of the fifth. Before my third trip to the plate, the coach told me. The score was already 7–0. For all practical purposes, the game was over.
Right after the first inning, the Raiders had pulled Visner and brought in Min Gyeong-hak. He'd gotten through the second on one hit, then given up two in the third and one in the fourth before coming out himself. The next guy on the mound was… someone from the chase unit.
Even the Raiders were starting to throw in the towel.
Choi Min-gi led off the fifth with a single and took first. Then I stepped in.
"Ball."
Hmm… a 142 km/h fastball.
"Ball."
Slider. 133?
This felt familiar—like watching someone from a long time ago.
"Stri~ke!"
A four-seamer painted on the outside corner.
"Stri~ke!"
Same spot, another one.
What did I used to throw in situations like this?
Best case, a ground ball. A strikeout worked too. So make it as hard as possible—and even if they put wood on it, keep them off the sweet spot…
This guy's arsenal… four-seamer, slider, curve…
And a sinker.
Tap.
Ah—Kang Hajin just casually punches one the other way. The ball drops in front of the right fielder for a single! Runners now on first and second!
That was a well-located sinker on the outer half, and Kang Hajin just flicked it for a base hit. He really can hit.
Here comes a pinch runner from the Savers. That's it for Kang Hajin today—two-for-three with a home run—replaced by pinch runner Ju Yang-gyu.
The rest of the game finished without any real drama. Marte held them scoreless through the sixth. Hyeon-bin came on after him and gave up one run in one inning. Kim Seok-hwan and Oh Gyu-shin each handled an inning in the eighth and ninth to close it out.
The Raiders' hitters never stopped fighting until the end, but…
Final score: 9–3.
Series score: 3–0.
Korean Series Game 4, coming to you from Suwon. Today's starters: for the Raiders, Juan Sanchez, who pitched Game 1. For the Savers, Lee Yong-hun.
Both pitchers will be going all-out from the jump. The Raiders have every arm available today. Juan Sanchez is coming back on three days' rest, so expect him short and sharp.
I hear even Visner, who struggled yesterday, is ready to go?
That's right. Visner and Kwon Jong-jin both. The Raiders are in all-hands mode—anyone could take the ball.
And the Savers?
The Savers have breathing room. Their three starters through Game 3 have been so good that bullpen usage has been minimal.
Jo Sangjun and Kang Chanjung each threw just one inning in Game 1—that's the entire bullpen workload so far.
Exactly. And if today's starter Lee Yong-hun runs into early trouble, they can go straight to Hwang Chan-young or Yu Hyeon-bin. Both of them can go long.
Kang Hajin is not in the lineup today. Any idea why?
They're not going to push him, I imagine. He started Game 2 and then hit in Game 3. No reason to force him in a situation this comfortable.
Game 4.
The atmosphere was completely different from yesterday. Almost no booing… just quiet. And looking around the stands, there were a lot of our uniforms out there. Suwon wasn't far, sure, but… yeah. It almost felt like a home game.
"Play ball~"
The game that could be the last one we needed for a Korean Series championship had begun.