Chapter 50
Rhys stood and banged his left hand against the railing as Caleb and Alfie jogged around the bases. That homerun put them in the lead for the first time this game. In the top of the ninth inning. He had seriously started to think they were going to lose this one. Again.
Apparently he shouldn’t have lost faith in his team. It’s not the first time they seemed to pull a win out of thin air.
Caleb grinned at him as he came into the dugout. “Who needs a cheering section with you around?” he asked with a laugh before walking past him and dropping onto the bench next to Brock. Who leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.
Rhys glanced away. He of all people didn’t have a problem with public displays of affection. Why did it suddenly make his stomach feel all squirmy? It was probably just the antisiness from not being able to play.
Yes, that had to be it.
“Nice hit,” he told Alfie, who was still smiling as he took his helmet off and sank down onto the bench.
“Is that what you thought of it?” Alfie pressed his lips together, but Rhys could see the way they turned up at one corner. “I never would have known by your stoicness.”
“Shut up.” He laughed as he dropped down beside Alfie. The movement jostled his shoulder.
Alfie must have seen something in his face. “Do you need something?” he asked softly. “I can get Maggie—”
“No,” Rhys said, sharper than he’d meant to. Alfie jerked back. “Sorry. I’m fine, though. I just need to be more careful how I move it. Don’t worry about me. Just get out there and finish out this game.”
At least they could have a win, even if Rhys hadn’t done anything to help them. That’s what being part of a team was. Celebrating all of their wins, even when you were losing everything.
Except he wasn’t. He was still on the team. They wanted him around, even when he wasn’t providing anything.
Axel struck out and Alfie groaned. He grabbed his glove and settled his cap back on his head. “Three outs,” Rhys told him. “Just get three outs.”
He caught a roll of Alfie’s eyes, but again his lips curled up. Rhys settled back on the bench, trying to make his body relax. The pain made that difficult enough, let alone the fact he couldn’t do anything to help. He’d get back there once his shoulder was better.
Unless they realized they were better off without him. Like everyone else had always known.
He stood back up and walked to the railing, shoving that thought into the recesses of his brain where it belonged. He’d been on this team for more than two years, and they hadn’t seen fit to trade him yet. They weren’t going to do that because of a minor injury.
What if he ended up seeing more bench time because they realized Zaid or Oscar would be better?
“Stop,” he whispered. He needed to freaking stop already before his brain completely spiraled out.
“You all right there, Molson?” Turner glanced over at him.
Rhys forced a smile he didn’t feel, but hell he’d long ago become accomplished at that. “Perfect, Skip. Ready for us to finish them off.”
Turner eyed him, as if waiting to see if he’d crack, but Rhys kept that smile on his face. He could do this, damn it.
“It’s a little early for that,” Turner said. “These are the same ones who loaded up the bases their last time up.”
Yeah, he hadn’t forgotten that. Hopefully, their closer, Ori, would have better luck against them than Cameron had.
It didn’t seem like that would be the case.
Ori threw three balls, nowhere near the zone, and the Infernoes batter was perfectly willing to take them.
Putting the first batter on base wasn’t exactly a deathknell to their victory.
Not if they could induce a double play, but Ori wasn’t much of a ground ball pitcher.
Zaid hadn’t been calling for those pitches.
Instead he wanted obvious strikes. Which meant they were hitting them more often than not.
Knowing the best pitch to call for each batter would come with time. They didn't have a lot of that right now. Not with a tight game in the bottom of the ninth.
The next pitch curved right into the zone. And the batter made contact. Rhys came up off the bench, ignoring the twinge in his shoulder at the sudden movement. He was sure it would be at least a base hit with the way the ball barreled toward the gap between second and third.
He didn’t think Caleb would be able to get it at that angle.
Until he dove sharply to the side. Rhys winced at the way he landed on his hip, but Caleb fired the ball across the field from that position, bouncing it in front of first, where Ryder scooped it up before the batter was able to reach the base.
That was one. They just needed to get two more.
When the next batter managed to get a double, because Zaid once again called for fastballs right down the middle, Rhys worried that wasn’t going to happen.
“Let him paint the corners,” Rhys muttered.
“Even if you walk him, that’ll set up a double play.
” With Brad Tanley coming up to the plate, it would definitely be an option.
“Trying to take over Guillory’s job, Molson?” Turner arched an eyebrow at him.
“Never, Skip. Just thinking out loud.” He shouldn’t be doing that. He should know it was better to keep his thoughts to himself. Even if it was his job to know how a pitcher should handle each batter.
It wasn’t his job now, because he’d had to go and injure himself.
Turner didn’t say anything else, but he did step over and speak quietly to Guillory, who gave a nod then called for a timeout, so he could walk out to the mound. Zaid joined them, and they spoke for a few moments before Zaid headed toward home plate.
The next pitch was a slider, low and outside, just hitting the corner. Rhys glanced over at the coaches, but neither of them looked at him. Had they actually taken what he said seriously? No, that couldn’t possibly be it. Had to just be coincidence.
The two pitches after that followed the same pattern. Two were called strikes, one a ball. The batter caught the next pitch on the end of his bat, but it flew back and into Zaid’s glove.
Well, they wouldn’t need that double play. Just one more out and they could even up this series.