Page 62 of Batter Up!

I loved that the pitching coach was asking my opinion on his pitcher.

“Yes,” I said with confidence.

Snyder nodded and didn’t say anything else but gave Coach McAlister a nod.

“Stone, you’re up,” Mack said a few minutes later.

I nodded and grabbed my helmet.

“You’ve got bases loaded. We need a run, son.”

I nodded and was surprised to find the bases were loaded. I hadn’t been paying attention to the score at all and looked up to see it was still 0-0. I looked over at the hits and wiped my eyes. “Is that for real?”

“We’re not talking about it,” Coach Snyder commented.

I nodded and went up to bat. I hadn’t looked at the scoreboard or in the stands during the whole game until now, but I found myself looking up to where I knew Molly was sitting, and she gave me the brightest smile. “You’ve got this!” she called out. “Just a single, Ty. You don’t need to swing for the fences.” I loved how much she knew about baseball, and I tipped my helmet to her.

We had only been married for ten days, but I felt like it was the best ten days of my life. When Aubree had wanted me to propose to her right out of high school, I always got a sick feeling in my stomach and hated the thought of being tied down. With Molly, it just felt right. When I was at away games, I missed lying next to her in bed, but we fell asleep while Facetiming together. I knew we could make this work.

I took a few practice swings and listened to the crowd groan when Baxter struck out swinging.

I walked up, and there was a mound visit. I sighed, stepped back, and gave Hayden, who was on third base, a nod. I watched as they changed pitchers, and I had a feeling I knew who they would bring in. The right-handed, hard-throwing pitcher came to the mound from the bullpen and took several warm-up pitches. I knew he relied heavily on his fastball and could throw a decent curveball. I would wait for my fastball. He threw a curve first to see if I would chase it, but I watched the ball pass by. He then threw the fastball right down the middle. I swung but a little too late. Fuck! I wasn’t going to get that pitch again. Soon, the count was full, and I knew he would throw that fastball again. I watched the ball, swung the bat, and heard the beautiful sound of the wooden bat making contact with the leather of the baseball. I began to run to first base as I watched the ball soar to the outfield. For a minute, I thought it might go over the fence, but it bounced and went into the stands for a ground rule double. We were now up 2-0. I stood on second base and pointed at Molly. Then, I looked over in the dugout where all our team was cheering and saw Tucker raise his fist to me in appreciation.

During the eighth inning, Tucker did allow one base on balls, but he got the remaining batter to pop up to Swanson at shortstop. Everyone gave Tucker space in the dugout, and I continued to check stats on the tablet and monitor how I felt he was pitching. He was definitely in the zone, and before I knew it, he struck out the last batter with a changeup. I was on my feet running out to him as soon as the pitch was called a strike.

“A no-hitter!” I cried and slapped him on the back. “Fucking awesome, man!”

“What?” Tucker asked as he looked up at the scoreboard in disbelief. “No way!”

“You kicked ass,” Baxter said and gave him a huge hug. “I didn’t realize it was a perfect game until the sixth.”

“That one fucking walk,” Tucker said with a shake of his head.

“Fuck that. You still got a no-hitter!” Hayden said.

The crowd was on their feet chanting Tucker’s name, and I was so happy for him.

Back in the locker room, I quickly showered and was ready to hug my girl and get back home. I was putting my shower stuff back in my locker when Coach McAlister came out of his office. “Tucker. Stone. I need to see you both.”

I looked over at Keegan and shrugged as we both walked into the office.

“Go ahead and close the door,” Coach Mack said, so I shut the door and took the seat next to Tucker.

“Gentleman, I just got off the phone with Steve Henderson. Do you know who that is?”

I looked at Tucker, and we both shook our heads.

“He’s the manager of the Kentucky Lightning out of Bristol, Kentucky.”

“They are Double-A, right?” I asked.

Mack nodded. “Yes. The Cyclones’ catcher got injured. They had to pull the catcher from Triple-A, so Reynolds from Double-A was called up. They also called up one of their relief pitchers, so they had a few spots open. He heard about the game tonight and wants both of you to join them on their road trip. You’ll be skipping right over High-A. I’m proud of you both. You have two hours to pack up to be on the next available bus. You’ll meet up with them in southern Kentucky to play the Plainville Rams. Tomorrow is a day game, which is why you have to leave right away. Make sure to get plenty of sleep on the bus.” He got up and patted us both on the shoulders. "I will miss you both, but congrats, gentleman. You’re moving up to Double-A.”

Because players are not often moved back & forth from their major league parent club as often as it happens in Triple-A, the rosters of Double-A teams tend to be more stable. That helps create a better relationship between the team & its fans.

I walked up to the players entrance to wait on my man. I still couldn’t believe I had witnessed a no-hitter, and Tyler had scored the only two RBI’s in the game. I really liked this team. A few cleat chasers were standing around the entrance along with some friends and family members. I recognized Adam McAlister's wife, Ashleigh, and waved hello to her. She was holding their young sleeping son, Nico, in her arms. I had to smile, thinking that would be me before I knew it.

The doors soon opened, and a bunch of the guys came out. I gave Hayden and Ivan big hugs and asked where Tyler was.

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