Hit the Bad Luck Away

The ball flew over third. Han broke from second, but his luck was gone. The ball struck the chalk beside the bag and kicked foul. “Foul!” The stadium groaned. Han returned to second, clapping hard. “Again!” The freeze ended. The pitcher's focus fell to eighty-six, then to seventy-four as the near extra-base hit shook him. His eighth pitch missed. Ball four. Lin walked to first. No heroic hit, no statistic—only seven swings that exhausted Gu's stolen advantage and loaded the bases. Across the net, Gu silently said, “You wasted a trade.” Lin answered from first, “You wasted six pitches.” Tang Xiao came up next. The Bears summoned a left-hander.