His glove reached up high into the air as he tried to grasp the incoming ball. This was when it sunk in that he was not high enough to reach, even with his long limbs.
Time seemed to slow down as he hung in the air, his mind working overtime.
Judging by the speed of the ball and his descent, he would be about 5cm short. With time running out, Ken made a decision.
He moved his thumb within the glove and dislodged his hand slightly so that his fingers were no longer fully in the glove. This increased his reach by just enough to successfully make contact with the ball.
In one swift motion, he swiped at the ball, trying to swat it towards the field whilst keeping his glove on. He didn't know all the rules for the outfield, but he assumed taking off one's glove to play at the ball would be illegal.
Ken's eyes lit up as he felt the glove make contact with the ball. He snapped his gaze upwards and saw the ball falling back into the field of play as he made his descent to the ground.
As his feet touched the ground, Ken swooped in on the ball, collecting it after it had bounced a few times. In the action of picking up the ball with his glove, he made sure to slot his fingers back into place.
"Second!"
Thankfully Masayuki had managed to give out some direction after picking up his jaw from the floor.
Jorge who had been busy jogging and celebrating his home run, suddenly heard the shout from the outfield and almost jumped in fright. He saw Ken in the action of picking up the ball and was stunned.
"W-What the hell!?"
However, his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. He had only just passed first base and was lagging behind after thinking he'd hit another home run.
It wasn't just him, Manuel was just rounding 3rd base and was forced to pick up his pace. Since the throw was coming from the outfield, he should still have time to make it.
He heard the 3rd base coach screaming at him to run, his features filled with panic.
Ken's gaze lifted and saw the shock on Jorge's face, causing him to let out a smile.
'Let's see you outrun this.' He thought inwardly.
In rhythm, Ken planted his left foot and sent a bullet throw from deep in the outfield with Ichiro at second base set as his target.
Jorge felt a sense of danger as he rushed towards the second base. As he lowered his head and focused on gaining speed, he could see the ball fly into his peripheral vision, adding to his anxiety.
He moved his big frame as fast as he could, pumping his legs like a freight train.
As soon as he got close enough, Jorge lunged toward the base, sliding with as much finesse as a hippo out of the water.
Ichiro tracked the trajectory of the ball with his eyes showing a hint of surprise. He lowered his body and stuck out his glove, catching the ball just above his knees.
With one fluid motion, he was able to swipe in front of the plate, making contact with the hand of the runner before he was able to touch the bag.
"Ah."
"Out!"
"H-Holy crap! What an arm!"
The crowd broke into cheers and chattering as they witnessed the throw from Ken in the outfield.
"Forget the throw, what the hell was that home run save?"
"Did he throw the glove or something?"
"Nice play Ken!" Masayuki yelled out, his body animated.
Jorge who had just been run out felt his face heat up in embarrassment. He had been far too cocky, thinking that his hit had gone over for a home run.
If any of his potential collegiate coach's had seen this in person, they might reconsider their scholarship offers. Being cocky to the point of arrogance was one way of getting a coach to dislike you.
He picked himself up off the ground and made his way back to the dugout, ready for whatever tongue lashing he would receive. There was at least a silver lining since his brother had managed to add a run to their total.
As he approached the Head Coach he prepared himself for the worst.
"You know what you did, I just hope you've learned from it." He said simply, not even looking at Jorge.
"Ah… Yes sir."
"Good. Now don't let it happen again."
"Yes Coach."
Meanwhile, the entire team was shouting their praises to Ken in the outfield. This was the second time that he'd saved a home run in two games.
If nothing else, this showed just how genius the coach's were to place him in the outfield.
"Man, I thought you were going to throw your glove there or something for a moment." Masayuki said, still in a great mood.
"Why? Is that bad?" Ken asked, feeling a little embarrassed to ask.
"Bad? Well it's an automatic dead ball and all runners advance 3 bases. You tell me if it's bad." He said gravely.
Ken couldn't help but gulp. Technically, he didn't have full control of his glove when he swatted the ball away, so he had been lucky no one had caught on.
With the added run from Cuba, the score was now 5-3 in Japan's favor. Since the Lopez twins had now hit, they should be able to stop the bleeding, at least in these next 2 innings.
As Ken made his way back to his position, he froze in place for a moment.
'Wait, did that count as a dropped catch??'
He suddenly felt a cold sweat run down his back.
Despite his situation, he quickly opened up the system and pretended to do some stretches to hide his suspicious hand movements. Only when seeing that his task was not marked as failed did he let out a sigh of relief.
'Lucky…'