"Did you see that?"
"Of course, I saw it!"
"What kind of pitch was that?"
"How would I know!"
When the baseball left Lin Guanglai's hand, tracing a beautiful trajectory through the air and landing precisely in the glove of catcher Takeshima Shinya, striking out Akiyama Shingo, a collective gasp of shock and a thunderous cheer erupted from the stands of the Yahoo Do, the broadcast room, and countless households watching the ga on TV.
The first to react were the managent personnel of Eagle's Vision. Almost as soon as Lin Guanglai completed the strikeout, the slow-motion replay of the final pitch appeared on the outfield electronic screen:
Seen in the footage, the baseball shot out of Lin Guanglai's hand, initially traveling in a straight line rapidly toward ho plate. However, just before entering the strike zone, the ball began to drop suddenly without the influence of the magnetic force, following the trajectory of Lin Guanglai's signature Forkball, just as Akiyama Shingo had initially anticipated.
However, to the batter's surprise and everyone else's, the baseball maintained a sharp lateral movent while dropping, moving diagonally towards Akiyama Shingo's inside corner, causing his swing to miss completely.
"Judging from the initial trajectory, this pitch should undoubtedly be a Forkball, but does a Forkball have such a pronounced lateral movent?" In the broadcast room, the comntator was discussing the topic with the guest beside him.
In terms of understanding and love for the Forkball, Japan is undoubtedly the king of this domain:
Since the "God of Forkball" Sugishita Masao introduced this pitch to the world in the 1950s, this sharply dropping magic pitch has almost beco synonymous with Japanese baseball;
The "Nomo Tornado" whipped up by Nomo Hideo in the Major League further introduced the world to Japanese baseball, showcasing the sharpness and inscrutability of the Japanese Forkball, attracting more and more Japanese pitchers to master this type of pitch.
Today, any pitcher trained in the Japanese baseball style is likely proficient in throwing a Forkball.
Just when the Japanese believed their exploration of this pitch had reached its limit, Lin Guanglai's pitch appeared—judging by the footage so far, the ball Lin Guanglai used to strike out Akiyama Shingo, whether it's the throwing motion or the initial trajectory, was almost identical to a regular Forkball, but the final trajectory showed a significant deviation.
Imagine, when a batter faces a pitcher who has mastered such a pitch, how can he determine within less than 0.5 seconds whether the next pitch will be a fastball, a traditional Forkball, or this new Forkball-Sinker?
The answer is obvious—other than hoping for a massive control error from the pitcher or taking a gamble with a high risk of being struck out, the batter has no other options.
The discussion in the broadcast room grew more intense, with the comntators and guest reducing their focus on the ga itself; until the director reminded them from backstage, prompting those in the broadcast room to snap back to reality and refocus on the match—no surprise, after the ga, Lin Guanglai will still be on the podium as a hero, and it's not too late to ask him about the pitch then.
On the third base side, in the Seibu Lions' dugout, Akiyama Shingo sat down heavily, his eyes still filled with disbelief—confident that he could hit Lin Guanglai's pitch, he inadvertently beca the backdrop for the birth of a new type of pitch, unsure of how to feel about it...
After Akiyama Shingo stepped down, the next to enter the batter's box was Seibu Lions' veteran Kuriyama Takashi, who was also a hit-for-average batter with the intention to reach base—facing this 12-year professional baseball veteran, Lin Guanglai showed no reservations for age, maintaining his fierce offensive style against Akiyama Shingo, relying on the sharp fastball and the unfathomable Forkball/Forkball-Sinker combination to forcefully confront him head-on.
After a bout, the 32-year-old Kuriyama Takashi was ultimately defeated by the 21-year-old Lin Guanglai, struck out by a straight ball precisely pressed on the outside corner of the strike zone, and the whole process only took four pitches.
The third batter for the Seibu Lions was Venezuelan Ernesto jia, who had hit a total of 61 ho runs in the past two seasons, marking him as one of the key power sources in Seibu Lions' lineup; however, along with the frequent ho runs, jia's strikeout numbers have also remained among the top in the Pacific League, indicating his poor discipline at the plate and habit of swinging at bad balls.
And such a batter happens to be one of Lin Guanglai's favorite types to face: with his rich repertoire of pitches, he has countless ways to craft pitch combinations to solve the challenge presented by jia.
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