Although he knew Toriyama Kei had strong pitch selection abilities and rarely swung at bad balls, after discussing with Hosokawa Kei, Lin Guanglai decided to throw an ambiguous ball to test the waters on the first pitch.
If by any chance the opponent chose to swing, or if this pitch was to the liking of the home plate umpire, perhaps he could seize the strike count advantage and gain an upper hand on the field with this bad ball.
A fastball went high inside, the speed was about 150km/h, and the position where the baseball crossed the plate was quite sensitive, but in the batter's box, Toriyama Kei remained unmoved, sticking to his judgment, and let the ball pass; the home plate umpire behind Hosokawa Kei also had no reaction.
1 ball, 0 strikes.
"Just as expected, I have to decide the outcome within the strike zone…" Receiving the ball returned by Hosokawa Kei, Lin Guanglai felt resolved, "If that's the case, then let's do it!"
