Dividing Pain

Needles climbed Lin's right knee, painful but nothing like his first exchange. Tang's total pain fell only to sixty-four, while his eyes sharpened. The next runner went. Tang shortened his step and threw with his trunk. The ball drove into Lin's glove. Protecting his painful right knee, Lin pivoted on his left and swept the tag down. “Out!” The South Bay crowd fell silent. An inning later the Whales attempted a double steal. Tang faked the throw to second, stopped, and trapped the runner trying to steal home. Lin rotated behind the play to intercept the return throw. After one and a half innings, Tang removed his mask on his own. “Substitution.” The backup catcher stared. “Captain, I—”