Chapter 26
Chapter 26
At the start of the series, Phoenix had been wary of the rumors circulating inside the team.
The baseless whispers that Park Si-woo’s misfortune had somehow transferred to Choi Myung-jun.
Luck isn’t something you can see, nor is there any device to measure it.
All you could do was watch the situation unfold and make guesses. Yet, after the season began, ironically, Park Si-woo and Choi Myung-jun walked completely opposite paths.
Park Si-woo succeeded in his comeback with the knuckleball he had perfected over the winter, pitching two consecutive nine-inning games without allowing a run.
Choi Myung-jun pitched well himself, but a string of bad luck and errors left him winless, and the team lost every game in which he started.
Even if Park Si-woo’s case was understandable, Choi Myung-jun’s situation reminded everyone of Park Si-woo in his rookie season.
But those worries gradually disappeared as the series progressed.
Two consecutive lethargic defeats by the Marines, as if all the luck had run out.
Most importantly, the third game where Park Si-woo and Choi Myung-jun faced each other. Top of the first inning, bases loaded, nobody out.
“He’s still the same.”
“Ha, yeah. This is Park Si-woo.”
The Phoenix players, who had experienced Park Si-woo’s misfortune more closely than anyone else, felt relieved as soon as he showed the form they had seen before.
So far, he had just been lucky for a moment.
Now that he faced us, he was back to his usual self.
Amid these thoughts, cleanup hitter Corbin Miller sent a strong line drive.
“…Huh?”
The situation unfolded in an instant.
“Rex Graves makes a fantastic catch! The ball goes to second! And then first! Triple play! The Marines escape the bases-loaded crisis against Park Si-woo in the top of the first inning!”
The only player not out, Park Chan-hyuk, couldn’t believe his eyes.
One swing resulted in three outs.
A triple play, which happens at most two or three times a year, came in the very first inning, and the Phoenix players could hardly regain their composure.
Meanwhile, the Marines were shouting without restraint.
“Rexssss! Nice play!”
“Wow, that glove… damn, perfect!”
They overcame a bases-loaded situation caused by errors and bad luck with a single stroke of fortune.
It was a thrill unlike Park Si-woo’s previous bases-loaded KKK plays.
It wasn’t just the batters whose fortunes diverged.
Park Si-woo, standing still for a moment, snapped out of it at Song Min-seok’s call.
“Si-woo! Let’s go down!”
Park Si-woo finally smiled and answered,
“Yes. Let’s go.”
Meanwhile, Choi Myung-jun’s expression hardened as the inning ended suddenly and he had to hurry back to the mound.
Walking out of the bullpen, he glared at the noisy Marines dugout, at Park Si-woo inside.
“Luck. Fine, I’ll take it.”
The top of the first inning had just ended.
Even if he was lucky to finish the inning, many more innings remained.
All he had to do was wait for Park Si-woo to collapse.
That was Choi Myung-jun’s plan, but then—
“Ball!”
He struggled with control against the first batter, his expression starting to crack.
Whether it was because Park Si-woo disrupted his composure, or because he had to come out sooner than expected, his control wavered.
With a 3-ball count, the catcher signaled for a fastball down the middle.
The plan was to at least get one strike and think from there.
Choi Myung-jun, focusing as best as he could on control, threw the pitch.
“Phew!”
156 km/h.
The ball was sucked into the mitt instantly, and the first batter, Hwang Seo-jun, immediately let go of his bat.
“Ball!”
“Straight walk! Choi Myung-jun allows the first batter to walk!”
“That was such a close pitch. It just barely missed the strike zone!”
“Ha. Sweet.”
Hwang Seo-jun pretended to be calm but secretly let out a sigh of relief.
No matter how many times you faced it, the speed and movement were hard to get used to.
But that applied only when hitting.
When on first base, adjusting his glove, Hwang Seo-jun’s expression changed.
“Bastard. What are you going to do if I keep watching you?”
Choi Myung-jun was the perfect pitcher to target when you were on base.
No matter how fast the pitch was, preventing a steal wasn’t just about velocity.
“The runner takes off from first! Safe, comfortably stealing second! Hwang Seo-jun!”
“Choi Myung-jun completely lost the start. Look, he runs like he knows what’s coming!”
Dusting the dirt off his uniform, Hwang Seo-jun teased Choi Myung-jun and widened his lead once more.
Of course, he had no intention of running further; he just wanted to needle Choi Myung-jun.
Knowing this, Choi Myung-jun ignored him and focused on the next batter, Cha Jae-hoon.
“Bunt! First!”
“Out!”
Cha Jae-hoon quickly dropped his bat, while Hwang Seo-jun leisurely reached third.
“The Marines executed a sacrifice bunt in the first inning.”
“This has two meanings: it’s difficult to score big against Choi Myung-jun, so even if an opportunity comes, they’ll take at least one point.”
The camera shifted to Park Si-woo accordingly.
“They believe if they can get just one point ahead trusting Park Si-woo, they can win.”
Regardless of Gwak Gu-beom’s thoughts, the batter at the plate completed the plan.
“Thwack!”
“Right fielder Park Chan-hyuk raises his hand! Out! The runner at third cannot move!”
However, the expected sacrifice hit by Ha Seo-jin failed, leaving two outs with a runner on third.
Rex Graves, at the plate, was not the type of hitter suited to driving in one run in this situation.
He relied on power rather than precision.
It seemed the Marines’ plan would fail.
“Thwack!”
“The second baseman cannot catch it! Meanwhile, the runner on third scores! First point for the Busan Marines!”
Rex’s full-swinged bat barely connected, sending the ball slowly over the second baseman’s reach, resulting in a hit.
“Top of the first, the fortunes of the two teams diverge! Corbin Miller’s line drive resulted in a triple play, while Rex Graves’ weakly hit ball drives in the first run.”
“That’s part of what makes baseball fun. Sometimes it’s not skill but luck that decides the moment. Watching whose luck is better today, Park Si-woo or Choi Myung-jun, will be an interesting point.”
Phoenix was not a weak team to collapse simply because the top of the first ended in a triple play and the Marines scored first.
At this moment, Phoenix knew better than anyone what to do.
So it wasn’t the time to relax.
Why does my heart feel so light?
Of course, when you expect to score, you sometimes don’t, and when you expect to stop runs, they score.
I had experienced that countless times at Phoenix.
And the outcome was always defeat.
But is it just my imagination, or is Choi Myung-jun going through the same thing?
If that were true, today’s match was practically decided.
Am I the only one who thinks this way?
The scariest people aren’t the enemies, but those you thought were allies.
Glancing briefly at the Phoenix dugout, Senior Kim Min-ki gathered the players’ attention.
“Everyone, focus. We win today, no matter what. Got it?”
Perhaps because of what happened in the first inning, he rallied the players before the second inning started.
“If I drop the ball in the gap again, I’m done for.”
“I’ll catch everything coming my way too.”
The players who contributed in the first inning, especially the keystone combo Cha Jae-hoon and Senior Yoo Jung-woo, discreetly looked at me.
“I’m really fine.”
“Just scold me already.”
“…Fine. We’ll work harder.”
Seriously.
Bodies are light, the ball is good.
The weather is perfect, and the feelings from the first inning disappeared entirely after the triple play.
Now we even scored a point.
It’s a small score, but we’re ahead.
Winning is simple now.
I just need to perform well.
Simple and clear.
Of course, there were still tricky moments.
“Thwack!”
In the second inning, Senior Cha Jae-hoon, who vowed not to drop balls in the gap, tried to catch a slow grounder barehanded and failed.
“My! My!”
In the fourth inning, Senior Yoo Jung-woo, trying to catch every ball to his side, got too ambitious and tried for balls meant for the right fielder, leaving them all uncaught.
But this was minor.
The team still prevented runs without major issues.
And defense wasn’t always like this.
“Phew!”
In the fifth, Senior Cha Jae-hoon caught a wildly bouncing ball and threw successfully.
“Did you see that? Did you?”
Senior Yoo Jung-woo chased down a ball he assumed had passed second base and ended the inning with a running throw.
“Thanks for the great defense.”
“…I feel uneasy. Can you at least scold me?”
“I’ll scold you in Si-woo’s place then.”
“You… why did you run there and miss it?”
“You could’ve just picked it up and thrown it. Why couldn’t you?”
They were definitely bickering.
They quarrelled while gathering bats.
“Okay. Then we’ll repay in another way.”
Even though Senior Yoo Jung-woo said that, he didn’t look likely to get on base today.
We scored in the first, and had a runner on in the second and third innings.
But no additional runs.
Choi Myung-jun’s pitches were good, and luck hadn’t favored us after the first inning.
Even though we were leading, it wasn’t ideal, but strangely, I felt certain.
No matter what happens, it feels like we won’t lose today.
And something happened that confirmed that thought.
Senior Yoo Jung-woo confidently led off and made it on base, just as he predicted.
Though he struck out on the third pitch and barely survived first base after a dropped ball, he celebrated with us energetically.
Next up was Senior Min-seok’s turn.
In a situation needing a point, the coach would surely call for a bunt.
“Thwack!”
But just as Choi Myung-jun was about to pitch, Min-seok raised his bat and sent the ball toward the shortstop.
It wasn’t a well-hit ball.
A bland speed and trajectory, normally a double-play chance.
“Run!”
The shortstop, expecting a bunt, moved toward second, opening a gap.
The bland speed worked to our advantage.
Senior Yoo Jung-woo reached third.
Now, runners on first and third, no outs.
Hwang Seo-jun, who scored in the first, stepped to the plate.
“Thwack!”
The ball bounced high in the infield.
Third base straight, Yoo Jung-woo couldn’t advance.
But Hwang Seo-jun sprinted wildly.
“Safe!”
“Ahhhhh!”
He completed an infield hit.
Now, bases loaded.
I think Senior Cha Jae-hoon glanced at me before stepping up.
Even if his defense was slightly lacking…
“Thwack!”
“Stop! Stop!”
Number two wasn’t in the lineup for nothing.
The ball slipped past the infield cleanly.
Senior Min-seok stopped at third, while Yoo Jung-woo entered the dugout to everyone’s cheer.
Eventually, the pitching coach came out of Phoenix’s dugout.
And rightly so.
“Ha! Seo! Jin!”
“Waaaaaaaaaah!”
Senior Ha Seo-jin waited at the on-deck circle.
Two at-bats, no hits today.
In the first, he couldn’t even make a sacrifice fly, but his presence was undeniable.
Soon, Choi Myung-jun was left alone on the mound.
I could sense what he was thinking, what he was feeling.
He must have felt wronged.
It wasn’t his fault, yet things went this way; no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t understand.
But that wasn’t the answer.
If I were the catcher, I’d have said just one thing to him:
Don’t stick to fastballs only.
But if he insists on it…
“Thwack!”
“Arghhh! Big one!”
“Wow! Damn! Seo-jin!”
I saw Choi Myung-jun watching incredulously over the fence as Senior Ha Seo-jin casually rounded the bases.
I looked away, realizing enjoying this moment was more important than watching Choi Myung-jun.
Choi Myung-jun was replaced, and the game tilted clearly toward us.
I thought the game would end without further incident, but—
“Hey, what’s going on over there?”
“Uh, I don’t know.”
A commotion arose in Phoenix’s dugout.