Short Summary[]
Tokuchi successfully uses the nine-player infield to beat Johnson and gain his money back from Saikawa.
Long Summary[]
Saikawa laughs at Tokuchi’s nine-player infield strategy. With no outs and loaded bases, a single hit to the outfield will ruin him. Commentator Kindaichi understands Tokuchi's logic. With an extra infielder between second and third base, Johnson can’t take his huge lead. The batter also has the added psychological pressure of knowing an infield-grounder will certainly lead to a double play.
The Bugaboos batter, Mishima, is determined to hit it to the outfield but on the first pitch he stays frozen and gets a strike. He tries to calm himself down but the outfield suddenly appears very far away. Tokuchi calls out to him and says the next pitch is the decider. Mishima swings and the ball rolls past Tokuchi’s feet to the centre fielder. The balls gets thrown to home, then to first, getting two people out. Tokuchi strikes out the next batter, ending the Bugaboos’ attack.
In the eighth inning Tokuchi throws a dead ball, purposely loading the bases with Johnson on second again, the same situation as before. Mishima goes up to bat and the outfielders move to the infield. Commentator Kindaichi calls the batting lineup Shirooka’s greatest miscalculation. He had only lefties bat after Johnson to prevent Tokuchi’s trick of throwing the ball to their heels; but he neglected to include any heavy-hitters to clean up the runners. Batters 2, 3 and 4 are only skilled at hitting grounders, their initial purpose being to help Johnson reach home. If they substitute with a right-handed heavy-hitter now, Tokuchi will just throw to his heels.
Commentator Kindaichi asserts that, while they’ve been focussing on Tokuchi vs. Johnson, he doesn’t feel Tokuchi cares about Johnson at all. He reckons Tokuchi’s more concerned with belittling Shirooka’s intelligence.
Mishima stands at the at-bat, strategising. He can’t roll a grounder, so he should aim to hit the underside of a low-spin ball. Tokuchi laughs and tells Mishima he knows what he’s thinking.
Mishima hits into a double play. Shirooka tears his hat off and throws it to the ground feeling like he's been mocked.
Saikawa is insulting the 'lousy' batter when his Secretary has a sudden realisation. Tokuchi loaded the bases on purpose. He got three outs and no runs this inning, making a total of twelve outs so far. (With the 20x rate, this is worth 1.2 billion yen). Tokuchi’s billion yen run has been cancelled out and Saikawa now owes him 200 million.
Characters[]
- Tokuchi Toua
- Saikawa: Owner of the Lycaons
- The Secretary
- Mishima
- Johnson
- Coach Shirooka
- Commentator Kindaichi