Pain Never Lies

The home crowd came alive again, stamping until the earth trembled. One out. Runner on third. Thunder by two. Chen's focus dropped to nineteen. Tang called time and went to the mound. He offered no empty encouragement. He put the ball back into Chen's hand and pointed at Lin. “See the man who can't lift his arm? He still swung with a full count. You've got two runs to spend. What are you afraid of?” Chen looked toward the first-base side. Lin raised his left fist. The next pitch was a changeup away. The hitter lunged early and tapped a weak grounder to second. The runner scored, but the Thunder kept a one-run lead. Two outs.