In the broadcast footage, Beltran stood frozen, unable to even make a swinging motion, his face full of disbelief. He quickly glanced toward his own team area at first base, eager to know what happened: "How could it be a fastball?! Isn't this the signal for forkball?"
Feeling the dozens of eyes almost simultaneously fixed on him, the staff responsible for decoding the signals was on the verge of tears: "I don't know why this ball turned into a fastball, clearly... clearly the signal wasn't like this?!"
Seeing his teammates in the dugout shrugging at him, Beltran's face visibly darkened; he turned his head again toward the pitcher's mound and thought to himself:
"So, did the opponent realize the signals were cracked and temporarily change the pitch signals?" But he quickly dismissed this thought, "No, no, even if the opponent suspects we might be stealing signals, they shouldn't know the specific thod, this is not the ti to scare ourselves."
Beltran stepped out of the batter's box for the third ti, spending more ti this round retying his shoelaces and adjusting the Velcro on his gloves—a veteran's customary delaying tactic, disrupting the pitcher's rhythm while giving himself more ti to steady.
On the pitcher's mound, Lin Guanglai, who had been closely watching the Astros' players, naturally caught the fleeting panic on Beltran's face and his glance toward his own team area—in the situation of already suspecting sothing, this seemingly innocuous series of actions increasingly looked like the guilty display of soone with sothing to hide.
In the at-bat against Beltran, the Yankees' counter-strategy to the Astros' signal-stealing behavior seed quite simple—give the Astros what they want to see and then do the opposite.
First, relying on Lin Guanglai's strong and powerful pitch quality to trap Beltran, then wisely apply reverse thinking, inverting the original fastball and breaking ball signal to lead the Astros into making wrong judgnts, while also checking if the opponent is really cheating.
And now, not only did Lin Guanglai earn two strikes, but he also confird one fact:
Though it's unknown what thod they used, the Astros must have so ans to capture the Yankees' signals and quickly relay them to the batter on the field via trash can banging—nothing else can explain Beltran's premature starts on those last two pitches.
Now, with an absolute advantage of no balls and two strikes, and having uncovered the cheating signal-stealing activity, Lin Guanglai didn't want to prolong the night and prepared to quickly conclude the duel with Beltran and end this long first inning.
Gary Sanchez signaled for a straightforward sign this ti, calling for a high four-seam fastball inside; anwhile, the Astros' team zone remained silent, just as in the first at-bat.
Lin Guanglai started his pitching motion, lifting his leg and turning his body, whipping his arm—just milliseconds before release, he slightly adjusted the pressure on his fingers and the release point, sending the inside high fastball to sink slightly to Beltran's inside low.
Facing this ball sinking toward his wrist, and still adhering to the signals from the team zone, opting for an early start to bet on an inside high fastball, Beltran tried to adjust his batting position but it was too late, the baseball sailed past his bat, heading toward ho plate.
This ball could fool Beltran, as Lin Guanglai had already anticipated; now what concerned him was whether Sanchez in the catcher's seat had the sa ntal alignnt, whether he could catch the baseball.
Gary Sanchez admitted that at first sight of the sudden change in the ball's path, he indeed panicked and was montarily helpless; but in that split-second, he recalled the promise made to Lin Guanglai on the mound:
"I definitely won't miss the catch!" Nearly shouting his thoughts aloud, Gary Sanchez quickly adjusted his catching stance in response to the incoming ball, cleanly snaring it in his glove before it hit the ground.
Got it!
Three outs, switch sides!
"Lin, got the last one!" On the way back to the dugout after the half inning, Gary Sanchez first shouted excitedly, then complained to Lin Guanglai beside him: "But Lin, don't act on your own next ti, at least let know first... that last ball, I thought you mispitched, really scared to death."
"Nice job, Gary," Lin Guanglai praised his partner, then turned back once more toward the Astros' team area:
Earlier standing outside of the team's zone, Alex Cora was nowhere to be seen, and many of the Astros' players preparing to take the field turned away after eting Lin Guanglai's gaze, avoiding eye contact, even Jose Altuve, who previously had so rapport with Lin Guanglai.
Lin Guanglai shook his head and said sothing to Gary Sanchez which seed senseless to him:
"So always believe they've found a shortcut, but little do they realize that the god of baseball will ultimately favor those who respect the ga itself."
"Champions? Hmph, won't let you win a single ga!"
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