Akiyama Koji pondered for a mont, as if he had made so kind of decision, and then spoke with a hint of finality:
"Before the ga, we said 100 pitches, so it will be 100 pitches—unless we can widen the point difference to the point where the opponent can't catch up, as long as the pitch count isn't up to 100, he will keep pitching!"
"Mr. Oishi, haven't you noticed yet? If he just wanted to fulfill the usual duties of a starting pitcher, Guanglai could easily give it his all, steadily finishing six to seven innings, then exit the ga with honor. Even if we lose in the end, he wouldn't be the one criticized after the ga; but he chose to pitch like today, clearly conserving energy to cover more innings."
"Although Guanglai seems to have an unassuming personality and gets along well with everyone, he's actually a very proud kid, especially confident in his skills in baseball—having known him for so long, I wouldn't be surprised if this ga he's aiming to pitch a complete ga shutout and achieve a 'Maddux ga'!"
As he said this, Akiyama Koji's eyes grew sharp, with a hint of the command he wielded in his younger days on the field: "Since he wants this and has the ability to back it up, as the ntor of a genius, we must also have the determination worthy of a genius!"
When he finished, Akiyama Koji motioned to the head umpire for a tiout; in the eyes of all the fans at Miyagi stadium and the Nippon Professional Baseball audience across Japan, he walked directly to the pitcher's mound, gazing intently at the young disciple before him, and earnestly said:
"Guanglai, as the team's ntor, I only have one thing to tell you going forward—"
"For this ga, we want a victory; and the one to lead us to victory, it's you, it has to be you!"
Feeling the trust from his ntor, Lin Guanglai was also infected by the passionate emotions emanating from him, and his lips curved slightly, forming a charming arc, as he responded:
"Then please, ntor, watch closely from the dugout!"
As the tiout ended, the intense match resud—on Rakuten's side, the third batter Ginzou just stepped into the batting area, and a wave of "hit it out" cheers erupted from the stands; so even urged Ginzou to send the ball straight to the bleachers.
Lin Guanglai's response to such behavior was a fastball clocking at 163 km/h, aiming directly at Ginzou's inside corner.
To the spectators in the stands, it seed to happen in the blink of an eye; the baseball traveled nearly 20 ters and landed into Hosokawa Kei's glove with a loud pop; for Ginzou, the feeling was even stronger, his legs trembling slightly at that mont.
In Ginzou's eyes, the sheer velocity of the pitch triggered an instinctive evasive emotion; at that mont, his mind was filled with only one thought—that being hit by such a fierce fireball would surely land him straight in the hospital...
The result of the pitch was, of course, indisputable, marking a clean strike.
Ginzou had initially thought the pitch was just a warning shot from Lin Guanglai, but he soon realized this notion was utterly mistaken!
Standing in the batter's box, Ginzou only felt a roaring sound around his ears—it wasn't the heartfelt cheers and chants from his fans, but the roar of a strikeout machine fully engaged!
They, Rakuten, had unwittingly awakened the monster that had been contained for most of the ga!
The ultra-fast fastballs, rare among Japanese pitchers, flowed from Lin Guanglai's hand as if they cost nothing, each one spun with super speed. Even if Rakuten's batters managed to connect slightly with the ball, it often didn't result in the hit they envisioned.
More importantly, Lin Guanglai wasn't the kind of pitcher with poor control, who relied on speed to intimidate, only to beco easy to hit once adjusted to. His highly completed sliders, forkballs, and the curveball perfected this season, along with his fastballs, added up to at least four ways to tackle top batters.
Considering his harmonious pitching chanics, facing such a pitcher only left those who dared challenge him with a headache.
Quickly, Rakuten's batters experienced what it ant to face a storm of pitching—akin to being bombarded by a heavy-duty aircraft on the battlefield, ground-based Rakuten batters found themselves utterly defenseless.
Akaikei Ginzou was rely the first victim of Lin Guanglai's full-throttle state; even the seasoned, skilled Ginzou couldn't mount any effective counteroffensive against the relentless tide, rely swinging at one pitch before being struck out by Lin Guanglai.
This at-bat, his pitch count was neither more nor less than three.
When Andrew Jones stepped into the batter's box for the third ti this ga, the broadcast cara captured his unprecedentedly stern expression—during formal matches, even when facing Japan's top-tier pitchers, Andrew Jones had never once shown such a look.
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