Goal
The Titans, away from home for so long, finally returned triumphantly to Shin Sajik Baseball Stadium. And then.
Crack!!
They achieved a new franchise record with 12 straight wins. But.
Craaack!!
The win streak ended the very next day amid Travis Turner's slump.
The curveball zealot got shelled on the mound after over-relying on his signature pitch as the finisher. At least his faith in the curve hadn't reached cult levels—that made it a rather anticlimactic loss.
Thwack!!
"Strikeout!"
Was it the backlash from the streak? The Titans dropped two straight at home.
Still, the Titans' grip on first place remained rock-solid. The win margin they'd built during the streak was a sturdy buffer.
The Titans carried so much bad karma as a team.
The first weekday series after. With two losses threatening to become three, fan anxiety grew...
...but it didn't.
The Titans had Jin Yuha.
Lately, some folks have been seriously questioning it, but I'm definitely human. I just experienced the miracle of regression—otherwise, totally ordinary.
I'm just pretty good at playing catch...
Okay, really good, but still.
Anyway, even I have off days during a season.
"Whoa... this is shocking."
Which is why Jeong Hanseong's super flustered face was the problem.
"What is?"
"You're actually human after all?"
"You joining the idiot brigade too? Do I look like a reptilian overlord?"
"No... it's just, I finally sense some humanity from you."
Taking the mound for a crucial loss-stopping start, I had my worst outing of the season.
7 innings, 3 runs. Not enough innings eaten, too many runs allowed. Didn't even qualify for the win. But at least.
"The team still won, right? That's what matters."
The lineup came through with a comeback in the ninth, snapping the skid. Good enough.
"Yeah, sure. Even pitchers have bad days sometimes..."
Jeong Hanseong, half-snarky, half-consoling, suddenly went quiet.
"Why'd you trail off?"
He had that classic reality-check face.
"Wait, thinking about it—calling 7 IP 3 ER a bad day is ridiculous..."
Hmm.
"Since when does Quality Start Plus need consoling?"
Well.
"...You're not human. Or if you are, definitely not normal."
Nothing to say to that.
"Not 'not normal'—say 'extraordinary' instead. Sounds better."
Even I had to admit it was kinda absurd.
After the mad dash of July, the Titans' August was relatively quiet.
No jaw-dropping 12-game win streaks. No historic 12-game losing streaks either.
They won the winnable games and lost the losers. And that was plenty to hold first place.
Meanwhile, Jin Yuha—who'd posted a subpar 7 IP 3 ER in his final July start—
Thwack!!
"Strikeout!"
—bounced back with 7 IP shutout.
Craaack!!
—followed by 8 IP 1 ER, proving no slump existed.
Jin Yuha stood on the cusp of 20 wins.
Just like the no-hitter, the latest 20-win pitcher was Sim Chando.
The media—and fans—were buzzing about the Sim Chando-Jin Yuha rivalry.
"Tch... kinda annoying."
But Jin Yuha himself couldn't care less.
He'd never even considered Sim Chando a rival.
"ERA ticks up once and won't come back down."
What bugged him was his slightly risen ERA from that one off day.
"0.44... feels unlucky."
Though even that "rise" was still inhumanely low.
It was a brutal slugfest.
"Whew... Andonghwa's one tough bastard."
Warriors manager Jo Jin-ho eyed Rhinos skipper Andonghwa sighing in the opposite dugout, looking exasperated.
They'd started with a perfect lead. Fully awakened Baek Sangyeon crushed back-to-back homers off Rhinos ace Carl Lauer.
But.
"Pulling your ace that early?"
Andonghwa boldly yanked his starter.
"And it works."
The call paid off.
Rhinos bullpen kept Warriors from pulling away, and their bats finally caught up.
"Tch... bullpen usage way higher than expected."
The game dragged to the 11th.
"Sangyeon saved our asses."
Good thing Baek Sangyeon homered again in extras—otherwise, it'd just be pointless bullpen drain.
"I've gained a small insight into baseball lately. Expect better from me going forward."
The Warriors skipper eyed the interviewing Baek Sangyeon, looking satisfied.
"Damn... whoever scouted him, solid pick."
Come to think of it.
"Facing Jin Yuha helped Sangyeon level up, huh? That nightmare's good for something."
Jin Yuha was a disaster for every team but the Titans—and he had his uses. Some hitters clearly stepped up after facing him. But.
"...Hah, first place is a pipe dream."
Jin Yuha's existence doomed Warriors' title hopes. Probably the same for second-place chasers Rhinos and Rangers.
About 30 games left, but unless Titans collapsed hard, Eastern League first was locked.
"With Jin Yuha, no long skids either. Guess we grind for playoffs. ...Not easy."
The Warriors manager checked the schedule and grinned.
"Heh... finally..."
He wasn't looking at his team's slate—he knew it by heart.
He was eyeing the Titans' schedule.
Next series: Titans host at Shin Sajik Baseball Stadium.
Opponent: Seoul Wolves. And Titans' Game 1 starter: Jin Yuha.
"That bastard mocked us for dodging Yuha so far? Time to taste it."
The Wolves manager couldn't hide his grievance, lamenting.
"Why! We've dodged him so well—why now?!"
The series hadn't even started, but the reason was simple.
"Why do we face Jin Yuha here! We were on a roll!"