After getting Daichi out, Ken was affected by the penalty of his Limit Break skill, something that he had yet to experience up till now.
His body felt like he'd just completed a 10km run. It was an odd sensation to be standing still and suddenly feel fatigue hit his muscles all at once.
However, since the time limit was only 5 minutes he was not too worried. There were just 2 more batters that he needed to get through before he could return to the dugout and recover.
Yuta who was behind the plate narrowed his eyes. Ken seemed to be breathing heavily and looked a little lethargic, causing some concern to appear on his face.
'He's tired already? That can't be right.' Yuta thought inwardly.
The Ken he knew could pitch all day if he was allowed to.
Just as he was about to call a timeout and check on him, Ken sent a thumbs up to his catcher, letting him know that he was all good.
'Damn, that guy is really observant.' Ken cursed inwardly, trying not to let out a chuckle.
Yuta could only nod and head back to his position. If Ken said that he was okay, then there was nothing that he could do right now. However, inwardly he vowed to speak to the coach if things got out of hand during the match.
Of course he didn't think that they could win if Ken wasn't on the mound, however the health of his friend was worth more than just a single baseball match… At least to him anyway.
"Batting 5th, 3rd base, Satoshi"
It didn't take long for Ken to compose himself, getting used to the backlash of his skill. Even with the penalty, his pitching grade was still S+ which was perfectly fine for these next two batters.
After receiving the call from Yuta, Ken performed his wind up and sent the ball out.
It was a four-seam fastball, headed straight for the bottom of the strike zone.
Since his muscles were protesting, it lacked the sharp speed that it usually had, clocking in at only around 145km/h.
Satoshi didn't hesitate to pull the trigger. He had been expecting a faster ball, so his timing was a little off, but he managed to make contact with the ball, sending it along the ground towards the Captain.
Since he'd swung so early, the ball almost went foul. Yet Makoto was not going to leave anything to chance.
His muscles bulged as he bent down to scoop the ball up and sent a pinpoint throw right towards the outstretched glove of Hiroki on 1st base.
"Out!"
There was no question in the call since Satoshi was nowhere near the base by the time Hiroki had received the ball. Judging by his expression he wasn't happy with how he'd hit the ball.
'Why the hell was that one so slow? Did he try throw a changeup?'
Satoshi's mind raced as he walked back to the dugout. He didn't understand why the ball was almost 15km/h slower compared to the pitches Daichi had received at the previous at-bat.
Ken on the other hand let out a sigh of relief. It was only after he'd thrown the ball that he realized just how bad the penalty was. While it only said it would decrease all of his grades by 1, it failed to mention the stress on his body.
His muscles felt as if they were heavy, every movement taking additional effort. He made a mental note to seal the ability until the end of an innings. That way he'd have time to recover on the bench afterwards.
Unfortunately, he didn't even know the prerequisites for the skill to activate, nor could he control it on his own.
Either way, he only needed 1 more out before the 2nd innings came to a close.
"Batting 6th, Short stop, Takuya"
The vocal Takuya made his way up to the batters box, his shaved head and clear eyes gave him a unique look. Almost like one of those monks one would see when they visited a monastery.
With his smaller height and eager look, he seemed a little out of place in a baseball uniform.
"Let's do this!"
He shouted from the batters box, giving both Yuta and the umpire a fright. The two shared a look between them afterwards, as if to ask what the hell was wrong with that guy.
Yuta returned his attention to Ken on the mound. The last pitch felt off and definitely wasn't his best. They had been lucky that the guy had swung too early, otherwise it could have been a big hit.
'We need to get ahead in the count.' He thought, calling for a forkball.
Ken nodded, although he felt a little apprehensive about it. The one he threw against Daichi was almost sent for a home run after all.
With that, Ken lifted his knee and stepped out, performing his pitching action and sending the ball out.
'There it is!'
Takuya gripped his bat tightly and loaded up, this was the pitch he'd been waiting for.
WHOOOSH
DING
"Damn it!"
Takuya cursed out loud and threw his bat, running towards 1st base with all of his might.
He had only managed to nick the top of the ball, sending it straight back to Ken on the mound.
Ken ran forward a few steps and scooped up the ball in one fluid motion, sending the ball straight to 1st base for an easy out.
"Out."
"3 outs, changeover."
Ken breathed out a sigh of relief, glad that he had survived the crucial part of the innings. Now he wanted nothing more than to sit on the bench and recover for the next few minutes.
"Nice fielding!"
The Yokohama team made their way back to the dugout after completing the innings. The score was 1-0 in their favor, yet no one was feeling complacent in this moment.
The only person to score over Yatsuo was Ken.