Elroy scratched his head, feeling a sense of frustration boil over.
"Are we really going to let this rookie shut us out this game?" He said with annoyance.
Yoab shrugged, "It's not like I haven't been trying to hit his pitches. We haven't even been able to stop him from doing that wind up all game."
"Elroy, you're up." The coach said, calling him from the top of the stairs.
The guy grumbled in response before grabbing his bat and heading up to the field. On the way past, the coach said a few words.
"If you don't get a hit this at-bat, the game is basically over." He said, not mincing any words. "The guy already looks tired, you should be able to get us on the board."
Elroy paused and looked towards the mound before nodding. Yet as he stepped into the batters box a few moments later, the atmosphere changed, just like it did these last two at-bats.
He felt a pressure that he couldn't explain, yet all it did was frustrate him at this point.
'Is this guy even human?' he thought, cursing inwardly.
He waited for the first pitch and felt his body flinch yet again after Ken entered his wind up. Even though he knew it was coming, there wasn't anything he could do to stop his body's reaction.
WHOOOOSH
PAH
"Strike."
'DAMN IT.'
Elroy stepped out of the batters box and kicked some dirt in frustration. The home crowd laughed and jeered at his reaction, but he did his best to ignore it.
Resisting the urge to throw his bat, Elroy closed his eyes and tried to calm himself. For some reason, the pitches that Ken threw to him seemed sharper than his others, it was something that he could not explain.
It was as if the guy had a vendetta against him.
'Did I offend this guy in a previous life?' he complained.
After a few more moments, he went back to the batters box and got ready.
'What if I close my eyes during the wind up?'
The idea sounded crazy. The amount of time between the wind up and the ball leaving a pitchers fingertips was very short. If he missed the timing, he wouldn't have enough time to accurately judge the course of the ball.
It was a gamble, but at this point he had no other choice. Either he would get struck out for the 3rd consecutive time this match, or his hail mary would work.
With his mind made up, Elroy watched Ken closely. The moment he began to move, Elroy closed his eyes tightly. As he had expected, the sensation he'd been feeling did not happen.
His eyes flashed open and it took a moment to find out where the ball was.
PAH
"Strike."
'Damn it!'
'This won't work…'
The fastball was over 100mph. The chances of him being able to open his eyes, track the ball and hit it before it arrived was far too low to be relied upon.
Elory felt stifled. He was the clean up batter for the White Socks, he was meant to be the one to get runs on the board. So why was he struggling so much against a rookie who had just entered the league?
Questions aside, it did not change the final result.
WHOOOOSH
PAH
"Strikeout!"
At this point, Elroy had no choice but to accept his fate. Nothing he said or did would change the poor performance of him or his team this game.
He took one last look at Ken, as if to burn the face of the man who had humiliated him and his team on this day into his mind. They would be playing the Ligers again for the next two nights, but he would have to wait till the next series to face his pitching again.
Once Elroy was struck out, the next two batters fell shortly after. Yoab was able to make contact with the ball, but it was an easy grounder for first base, whereas AJ Pollock was struck out.
Like this, the Ligers had essentially stamped their victory in the top of the 8th.
There was a buzz around the arena, but it was not because the Ligers were winning. Something special was happening on the field, but no one seemed to want to point it out.
The same could not be said for the commentators whose job it was to talk about such things.
"Bill, that marks Ken's 19th strikeout of the game. He is just 1 more strikeout away from tying the record for most strikeouts in a game."
"You're right. If he does, he'll be one of 3 in the history of the Majors to achieve such a number. There are still 3 at-bats remaining, it's entirely possible that he breaks the record this match."
"Even if he doesn't, Ken still has the chance to throw a shutout. If he is able to do this, I daresay it will go down as the greatest pitching debut we've ever seen in the league."
"When we saw Ryan Smith throw that shutout 2 years ago in his debut, I never thought we would see anything like it again. But it seems like Ken is well on his way to beating it."
"Ahem. Let's be careful, the commentators curse is a real thing."
Back in Austin Texas, Chris and Yuki were at the edge of their seats as they watched both of their sons debut in the Major League. Seeing Ken putting on a historical performance filled them with pride.
The fact that Daichi was the one making it all possible was just the icing on the cake.
"Can he really do it?" Yuki asked, covering half her face with a blanket, as if she was too scared to watch the rest of the match.
"Don't worry honey. Even if he doesn't get a shutout, he's done enough to let the league know that he's here to stay." Chris said, his voice filled with pride.