"Calm down before I throw you off my team."
The words were deep and terrifying, causing him to freeze on the spot.
Mark Williams turned Ryan around and led him back to the mound, not before apologizing to the umpire's briefly.
On the way back to the mound, Ryan was like a child who had gotten in trouble. Any thoughts of getting angry or back chatting had been quickly thrown to the back of his mind. Judging by the tone of the coach's voice, he wasn't happy.
"I don't understand." Coach Williams said when they arrived at the mound.
"W-What do you mean?" Ryan asked, genuinely confused.
"You were willing to throw away your pride and walk Ken earlier, yet in the next breath you threw away the chance to save a run because of it." Mark said, looking down at Ryan, with a frown on his face.
Ryan himself didn't know what had come over him. After being hit while trying to throw an intentional walk, he felt a rush of embarrassment which turned to anger. Pushing Ken had definitely made him feel better, but it did not last long.
After seeing the teen was silent, Mark placed his hands on both of the guy's shoulders and leaned down.
"The game isn't over yet. Pull yourself together and follow Leo's leads… If you do something like that again, you'll be watching the rest of the match from the bench."
After saying what he needed to say, Mark briefly looked up and saw Ken standing on 1st base. He received a thumbs up from Ken, causing an imperceptible smile to appear on his lips for a moment before he turned around and headed back to the dugout.
'Did he plan all of that?' Mark thought, thinking back to the last at-bat.
If it was true, then his Grandson was an absolute genius. It also meant that he was both cognizant of other's emotions and knew how to elicit a reaction from certain people.
In short, it was emotional warfare.
'It seems like he was born to be on a baseball field…' Mark commented inwardly.
Meanwhile, Hiroki and Daichi had already returned to their dugout, receiving high fives like they were free samples at Costco. The two were heroes, having finally recorded some runs against the stalwart US team.
Daichi even received a hug and a peck on the cheek from Miho when nobody was looking, causing his face to turn beet red in an instant.
"You're the best Hiroki~ I could kiss you!"
Hiroki on the other hand, had to stop the advances of Aki who was trying to kiss him.
"Piss off!"
Taking a page out of Captain Makoto's book, he sent an uppercut to Aki's mid section, turning the guy into a prawn on the ground.
"OOOOF."
"Batting 6th, 2nd base, Ichiro."
'I'm so sick of this…'
Ichiro was almost in tears as he walked out onto the field after Ken's flashy display. He could feel the excitement of the crowd instantly die down. In fact, it looked like everyone had picked this time to either go to the toilets or get some hot dogs.
Even Ken's mother who had constantly been cheering the whole game was currently on her phone, leisurely browsing.
WHOOOOSH
PAH
"Strike."
PAH
"Strike."
Even now at his 3rd at-bat, Ichiro wasn't even close to the fastballs that were being thrown. He was as helpless now as he was at the start of the game, causing him to shed tears inwardly.
DING
"Ah!?"
The ball he incidentally hit, went straight to Ryan on the mound who leisurely threw it to the first base for an easy out.
"Out."
"3 outs, changeover!"
Making contact with the ball was such a surprise that he had barely been given the chance to run before the ball had ended up at first base.
"Don't mind Ichiro. Hit it a bit further next time okay?"
Ken pat him on the shoulder on their way to the dugout, causing him to almost lash out.
'Damn it! I don't wanna hear that from you!'
Ever since he had been moved to 6th batter after Ken, he had lost all confidence. It wasn't that his skills had regressed, just that Ken's performance was too good in comparison to his own.
He was truly an Extra in this World Cup.
'Maybe I should retire after High School…' He thought.
It was now the bottom of the 7th inning with Japan taking the field. After breaking the pitchers duel, they looked to be in a great position with a score of 2-0 in their favor.
This was especially the case since Ken still looked full of energy.
"Batting 1st, Center outfield, Santiago."
Now that they were behind, Santiago seemed a little more serious. While he did send Ken and Daichi a smile, it didn't take long for him to get into position, his figure pulsing with determination.
This would likely be his last at-bat unless they were able to get some hits flowing.
Daichi could tell that his "Uncle" was ready to smash the ball, but he had complete faith in Ken's pitching. Till now, the only person who had been able to make contact with Ken's fastball was their captain, Leo.
After crouching down, Daichi called for Ken's specialty, planning to keep up their momentum.
Of course Ken nodded before beginning his wind up and sending a blitzing fastball towards the outside.
WHOOOOSH
DING
The ball ricocheted off the bat and into the foul zone along the ground.
"Foul."
Daichi sucked in a cold breath of air. He hadn't expected Santiago to make contact with that ball, though he thought it might be a bit of a fluke.
'Let's try again.'
Once more Ken threw another fastball, this time towards the bottom of the strike zone.
DING
The ball was tipped yet there was not enough contact for it to alter the course of the ball much. Daichi was able to still catch the ball and complete the strike.
"Strike."
Now feeling a little nervous, Daichi called for a changeup. Since Santiago was getting accustomed to the fastballs, it was the next logical step to throw one.
Yet when he called for it, Ken shook his head, vetoing the lead.
'Huh? He doesn't want to throw it?'
Daichi blinked in confusion.