As he approached, he could see the catcher get into position in front of the base. In that instant, he knew that the guy was going to try some funny business.
Ken grit his teeth and lowered his head, steadying himself for his upcoming maneuver. Once he was close enough, Ken dived forward, doing his best to avoid the large catcher standing in his way.
He stretched his arm out while he was in the air, aiming for home plate.
But before he could reach the plate, he felt his body get nudged while in mid-air. The catcher had pushed him, killing his momentum and sending him away from the plate.
Ken's body thudded onto the ground, his hand a foot away from home plate. He felt a slap from the glove hit his back, far too hard to not be intentional.
"Obstruction! The runner is safe and the run counts." The plate umpire called, much to the dismay of both the catcher and the opposition coach.
Seattle's coach stormed onto the field, his face turning bright red as he yelled at the umpire, calling him every name under the sun. The umpire himself ignored the yelling, before ejecting the guy.
"You're outta here." He said in an almost bored tone.
This only seemed to incense the coach even more. This time it was not just the umpire he insulted, he also moved onto the man's family members and relatives, cursing them all.
Ken was so enthralled that he almost forgot that he'd scored a run. He dusted off his pants and walked back to the dugout wearing a sheepish grin.
Mark shook his head, "What have I told you about running aggressively? I'm going to take you out of the batting line up if you keep doing that sort of stuff." He said. It was clearly not the first time he'd mentioned such a thing.
Ken shrugged, "It worked didn't it? No harm, no foul."
But Mark wasn't having any of it. "Well, I hope you enjoyed your first and last at-bat for today. I'm taking you off."
"W—Wait a moment." Ken blinked a few times in disbelief.
"I'm not taking you off the mound, but if you want to throw your perfect game tonight, then you'll need all the energy you can get." Mark replied with a grin.
Ken was confused for a moment before nodding, "I guess Daichi told you then."
"It was actually your father…" Mark said with a laugh.
"Ah, what a snitch." Ken quipped back.
"Go get yourself ready for the next inning. You might not get a better chance to throw a perfect game again this season, don't mess it up." He said, placing a hand upon Ken's shoulder.
"Do your best."
"Yes sir!"
Ken saluted before heading into the dugout where he got a warm reception for his efforts.
The first inning ended with the next batter Kris Carpenter, who hit a ground ball to the short stop for an easy run out at first. Still, the Ligers had managed to come out of the gates swinging, ending the inning with a score of 5-0.
With a 5 run head start, Ken was in the perfect position to put a stranglehold on the game.
In the 2nd inning, Ken acquired all 3 outs by way of strikeout. Call Raleigh, the number 4 batter was the most pitiful, having to face a 107mph fastball on the final pitch. It was as if he had no chance to even touch the seams of the ball.
The Ligers fans did not stop cheering for even a moment, fueling the home team to perform better than usual. This was why teams tried so hard to get home field advantage.
It had been said that home crowds actually had an affect on winning games, something that many sports athletes would agree with.
Ken was now one of them.
Heading into the 7th inning, Ken had struck out 12 of the 18 batters so far. The problem was, he was now facing the opening line up for the 3rd time this match.
This was usually where perfect games and shutouts died. Many Major League hitters only needed to see a few pitches before they could get used to the speed and movement of a pitcher.
Standing upon the mound, Ken relaxed his shoulders and took a slow breath out. He was a 3rd of the way to succeeding, he just needed to hold on.
He raised his leg and kicked off the pitchers plate, sending a cutter towards Daichi's open glove. It was like a fastball, but with a ridiculous break towards the end of the pitch.
WHOOOOOSH
PAH
The batter couldn't track it, resulting in a wild swing.
"Strikeout!"
WHOOOOOSH
PAH
"Strikeout."
PAH
"Strikeout."
The crowd burst into cheers as Ken produced an immaculate inning to take out the starting 3 batters in the lineup with ease. His pitches were dynamic and almost impossible to predict the course of.
Ken pumped his fist, letting out a sigh of relief. However, he did not relax. He still needed to face the clean up hitters in the next inning which would prove to be the toughest challenge of the night.
However, as long as he could get through them, his chances of securing the perfect game would increase by a large margin.
Daichi didn't say anything to Ken as they returned to the dugout for the next inning. Apart from a few people congratulating Ken on the immaculate inning, no one mentioned anything about a perfect game.
Like many athletes, they were superstitious with these things. Worried that if anyone mentioned it, it would be a jinx. No one wished for this to happen to their teammate.
The score had been blown out of proportion now, with the Ligers winning 10-0. It truly had been a dominant performance so far with only 2 innings remaining.
In the crowd, Ken's family and friends watched on with bated breath, praying that Ken would be able to pull off the nigh impossible feat of a perfect game.