Facing such an indisputable legendary figure, Lin Guanglai’s expression also beca serious: Abe Shinjiro is truly a hexagonal slugger, with strength, technique, mind, and psychological quality all top-notch; at the sa ti, as a top catcher, he is extrely good at reading pitchers and guessing pitches—any pitcher facing a batter like this will feel imnse pressure.
Of course, the opponent isn’t without weaknesses: as age increases and injuries accumulate, Abe’s physical condition is far from his peak, especially his base running speed, which has beco a major flaw. Lin Guanglai is prepared to exploit this point in this at-bat.
The first pitch screams past on the outside high corner, a four-seam fastball clocked at 156km/h, with an incredible spin that makes the baseball feel even faster to Abe than the radar reading suggests.
Regarding this fastball, Abe Shinjiro’s body slightly sank, as if he was loading up to hit, but ultimately chose not to swing, letting the ball go.
The umpire showed no indication, the count is now 1 ball, 0 strikes.
However, Lin Guanglai seed completely unfazed, shortly after sending another pitch towards Abe’s inside high corner, maintaining the high speed of 158km/h; this ti Abe’s swing started halfway, but upon realizing the baseball was too close to his inner body, he forcibly held back.
The count is now 0 balls, 2 strikes, while cheers and boos erupted simultaneously from the stands at Tokyo Do: the cheers were naturally because the spectators believed their ho hero successfully pressured the pitcher, forcing control issues; while boos were due to so Giant fans thinking Lin Guanglai was trying to evade a direct showdown with Abe by intentionally walking him.
But is that really the case? At least from the perspective of Abe Shinjiro in the batter’s box, he didn’t think so.
The first two pitches, Lin Guanglai constantly attacked the high position of Abe’s strike zone, inevitably focusing his attention on this area; and when the third pitch was thrown, the trajectory seed to fly towards the inside high corner again.
After so judgnt, Abe decided to swing with all his might, but the bat just swept over the top of the baseball, watching it descend and land in the catcher’s mitt.
Forkball, batter swings and misses, strike!
While Abe Shinjiro’s thoughts were still lingering on that forkball, Lin Guanglai already sent another pitch towards ho plate that looked identical to the third one; but this ti it wasn’t a forkball, it was a real inside high fastball exceeding 160km/h!
Just that fraction of a second’s hesitation caused Abe Shinjiro’s swing to be a bit slower than usual; by the ti his bat swung out, the baseball had already plunged into the catcher’s mitt on the upper inside corner with a "bang."
The umpire drew his bow, declaring the batter out; the live comntator also shouted loudly, praising the exquisite thought and excellent control in this at-bat.
"Two high-angle fastballs to establish advantage, one forkball to disrupt the batter’s rhythm, and finally a fireball to decide victory—such a thought and strategy demonstrate the pitcher’s absolute confidence in his fastball’s tail and high control ability!"
"Lin Guanglai has completely toyed with the Giant’s batters!!!"
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