Coach Mark Williams ascended the stairs from the dugout onto the field, grabbing the attention of the plate umpire. He pointed to Ryan and said a few words before making his way back.
The umpire said a few words on his headset before the arena was graced with the voice of the announcer.
"US team announces a substitution, Maxwell Gomez will be substituting in place of Ryan Smith at pitcher."
Ryan stood upon the mound with his head dropped. He heard the words of the announcer and felt a hopeless sensation descend upon him.
For the first time, he felt despair. It was as if there was nothing that he did against Japan was enough.
He raised his head, his gaze moving right to the opposing dugout. He searched for a while until he laid eyes on the person he hated the most.
'Ken… This isn't over.'
Ryan said these words in his heart. This was the first time that he had lost so completely against someone else. Sure he had lost games before, but this felt even more than that.
"Don't mind man, I'll turn it around for us."
Ryan raised his head, only to see Maxwell holding his glove out. After a few moments, he reluctantly grabbed the ball from inside of his glove and placed it in Maxwell's.
With that, he made his long trek from the mound on the way to the dugout.
Perhaps it was just his imagination, but he felt the searing gazes of the 5000+ crowd burn into him. He felt like they were contained pity and disappointment, filling him with even more despair.
This was the longest and most embarrassing walk of his life.
After what felt like an eternity, he finally arrived at the entrance of the dugout. Just as he was about to walk down the stairs, he felt a heavy hand land on his shoulder.
"You'll do better next time."
The tone was deep, yet it were filled with assurance and expectation. The words didn't forgive his lackluster performance, nor did they pamper his ego.
They might not be the words that he wanted to hear in this moment, but they were what he needed.
Ryan felt tears begin to pool at the corner of his eyes, filled with disappointment. However, he quickly wiped at them before they had the chance to fall down his cheeks.
"Yes Coach."
With that, he walked down the stairs and sat down on the bench, covering his head with a towel.
No one approached the guy, wanting to give him some space. This was the biggest game in the World Cup so far and Ryan had failed to perform up to standard. From the US team's perspective, there was no one to blame but the guy himself.
Coach Williams let out a deep sigh, turning his attention back onto the field. He had tried to give Ryan enough time to adjust, yet he needed to step in after Japan were starting to build momentum.
If he had continued to leak runs, never mind a comeback, the game might be called early in the 5th innings thanks to the mercy rule.
His gaze moved to Ken in the opposing dugout, feeling like he had a hand in the situation.
'Just what did you figure out…' he thought.
They would be going over these 2 innings over and over again once they returned back to the hotel, there was no doubt about it.
Mark let out another sigh, feeling himself aging a little more. Yet in the next moment, he gripped the side of his body, his face wincing in pain.
It was a momentary slip, but thankfully he managed to control his expression in the next moment before someone noticed.
Yet there was one person on the opposite team who saw.
Chris's face turned into a deep frown as he watched his father. It was soon replaced by a sad expression, almost as if he knew the reason for the coach's condition.
Thankfully, Ken was too preoccupied with the game to see it.
While he was a little sad that Ryan had been taken off the mound, it didn't mean that their opportunities had dried up. If anything, they had a small window before the pitcher would be operating at their best.
Since Leo was still the catcher, they could possibly capitalize early and put this game to bed before anything else were to change.
After a couple minutes of doing some warm up pitches, Maxwell was now ready to resume the match.
"Batting 1st, Left outfield, Riku."
Riku stepped into the batters box and gripped his bat tightly. Now that Ryan wasn't on the mound, he wouldn't be able to tell when a fastball was being thrown.
Yet this was fine by him. He had seen enough of the US film yesterday to be able to face this pitcher. Or at least that's what he believed.
"Looks like we sent your Ace crying back to the dugout." Riku said, a grin slowly creeping onto his features.
Leo simply ignored him, not that he could understand the foreign language being spoken.
He crouched down and called for the first pitch.
Since Max had just started, he wanted to test the waters. The guy would be useless to him if he couldn't pitch accurately.
In the event his control was not up to par early, Leo needed to make sure that he wouldn't give up an easy hit.
He placed his glove on the outside, barely within the strike zone.
Max nodded, beginning his wind up before sending the ball accurately towards the outstretched glove of Leo.
Riku's eyes widened as he saw the ball flying towards the outside. Judging by the speed and course it was clearly a fastball, something he'd been prepared to swing at.
"Thanks. For. The. Meal!"
Riku shouted, digging his front foot into the ground and twisting his body with great force. The moment he said the word "Meal" the ball hit the center of the bat, getting propelled into the outfield.
"YES!"
"Nice Riku!"