Chapter 16

Short Summary
Yoshida explains to Tokuchi why he accepted the bribe from the Owner. Too tired to carry on pitching, Tokuchi gets himself purposely ejected from the game.

Long Summary
At the top of the ninth inning, the Lycaons tie the game. Yoshida, on second, makes his way to home base, scoring the run that puts the Lycaons in the lead. The owner is furious with him. His secretary notices something’s not right with Tokuchi.

Tokuchi leaves the dugout to smoke and encounters Yoshida. He asks him if the owner will be angry that he’s playing so well. Yoshida confirms that he was bribed by Saikawa to ensure Tokuchi gave up some runs, but admits he did it because he was jealous of Tokuchi, not for the money. He was a former ace pitcher during his university days, but performed poorly when recruited to the pros. He was demoted to the farm team and was close to being fired when an opponent hitter offered to throw their next game for him for 5 million yen. Yoshida accepted.

Saikawa found out about this, and told him that he wouldn’t fire him so long as Yoshida became a shortstop and did exactly as he said from then on. He changed his mind about following Saikawa’s orders after Tokuchi’s words about low probabilities not equalling zero (see chapter 15). He says he wishes he’d known Tokuchi earlier.

The secretary works out Tokuchi has thrown 154 pitches against the Eagles in this game, and realises he’s too fatigued to pitch properly. He tells the owner he will definitely give up a run when he next pitches.

At the bottom of the ninth inning, Tokuchi isn’t pitching well and calls for a time out. He tells the manager he’s too tired to carry on and he needs to change pitchers. Mihara tells him he’s the only pitcher they have left and maybe he wouldn’t be so tired if he hadn’t kicked Yoshida off the field. Ideguchi tells him to hold on a little longer.

Tokuchi goes back to the mound, but pitches his next ball at the batter’s head, knocking him to the ground. It’s obvious the throw was intentional and a brawl breaks out. Tokuchi watches the fight with amusement from the dugout.

Tokuchi gets ejected from the game for a dangerous pitch and he happily leaves. He tells Mihara they still have one pitcher left. Yoshida gets sent on to pitch.

Tokuchi’s salary after this game is 380 million yen. Saikawa is outraged and calls Tokuchi to tell him that he’s paying for Yoshida’s runs.