146 Game: VS Lincoln High School 9 (1/2)
Finally, it was time for the game to continue. The pitcher stepped on the rubber, and Sean stepped into the lefty's batter's box. He was 1-2 today, with a single and a run scored from the first inning. Sean was able to continue his hitting streak to another game, but it didn't mean much to me. If anything, I didn't have any faith for him to get another hit today. Sean hasn't had a multi-hit game as far as I know.
The new pitcher came in high and fast, getting Sean to whiff on the first pitch for strike one. Then he got Sean to chase an outside pitch for strike two. I frowned and studied the guy on the mound. He was better than the starter, so why wasn't he put on to begin with? He followed up with another high fastball; this time Sean got a piece of it. His bat got underneath and popped it directly up and the pitcher took a step back and easily caught it for the second out. Three pitches for one out. Very efficient.
Zeke took over. He stepped in the batters box, facing the kid on the mound without fear. Which makes sense. As the best in the county, who would he fear?
The pitcher didn't step on the rubber, but instead, walked a little back, off the mound, and used the cleat cleaner. Odd. Why would you need to use it on a dry evening like this? It's not like the field is wet. The catcher approached him before I could figure it out. They both raised their gloves to cover their mouths and spoke in low voices, so everyone else was unable to hear. It was a short conversation and soon enough, the catcher jogged back to his spot.
Unexpectedly, he didn't squat behind the plate. Instead, he held his right hand all the way out towards the lefty's box. The pitcher got set, did his motion and threw the ball all the way out to the catchers hand for ball one.
The crowd started to get loud with a mix of boo's and cheers, almost as if they were confused on what to do. Well, same here. I turned to Coach Luis to see what he had to say about it.
Coach Luis felt my stare and faced me. ”What? Never seen an intentional walk before?”
I mean, I have. I shrugged. I just have never heard a crowd so divided.
Coach ignored me and turned his attention back to Zeke at the plate. Zeke was served four balls, way outside and got his walk. I moved to second, Noah moved to third, and Kelvin scored a run to make the score: 5-1.
Julian comes up with bases loaded, still two outs, bottom of the fourth. The catcher went back to his squat and the pitcher got set. Like he did to Sean, this pitcher faced Julian with some serious fastballs. Julian also struggled and ended up flying out to the left fielder, therefore ending the inning. Everyone jogged back to their respective dugouts.
I caught up to Noah and we went to our bags to switch gears. ”That was weird.” I mumbled.
Noah looked at me. ”What? What was weird?”
I shrugged. ”Everything?”
Noah eyebrows lifted. ”You wanna stop being so generic? Give me some specifics.”
I pushed my hair back and put on my cap. ”The pitcher.” I began. ”Everything about him. He's better than the starter. Then, he intentionally walked Zeke with the bases loaded? Just...I don't know. It's odd.”