C h a s i n g D r e a m s ➮ C a r r i s o n

• 11 •

The Cubs were really struggling against the Pirates this evening. After winning 14-3 yesterday, with Harrison blasting a home run out of the stadium, they were really having trouble getting the bats going.

The game was going into the top of the 7th. Up until the 7th inning, it had been quite the boring baseball game. The Cubs managed one lone run on Harrison's RBI double in the first inning. Following that, a runner hadn't advanced farther than second base for both teams.

Carrie watched Harrison warm up in the on deck circle. He took a few practice swings with the bat weight on his bat before tapping the handle of his bat off the ground as the bat weight slid off.

After Anthony grounded out, Harrison stepped up to the left handed batters box. The first two pitches, he missed and took for a strike. It was so odd to Carrie that they weren't able to hit as usual tonight. The guys were up against the Pirates pitching prospect Tyler Glasnow. He pitched against the Cubs a few times last season and he didn't last longer than 4 innings in those games.

Harrison took a close pitch that went in his favor. The thousands of umpires sitting around Carrie thought that pitch should've went the other way. He fixed his batting gloves and stepped back in the box. That pitch couldn't of been anything special. Harrison just missed it, as he struck out to end the inning.

Carrie would have to ask him what was going on after the game. Tyler Glasnow had been struggling this season already. He'd gotten shelled in his last two outings. What she really wanted to know was if he was throwing some kind of pitch with a wicked spin that she just couldn't see. Or were the guys just having a bad day?

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There were two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning, with Pirates outfielder Starling Marte out on second. His teammate, centerfielder Andrew McCutchen, sent a shot into centerfield that dropped in front of Ian Happ.

Harrison immediately set up in front of home plate for a play. He was anchored to the ground with his left foot only a few inches from the front of the plate. The ball came in on a really bad throw from center field. It bounced off the top of the mound and ricocheted to the right. Harrison had to quickly cross in front of Starling Marte sprinting home.

He reached out with his catchers mitt and snagged the ball. Then he quickly turned as Marte started his slide and dove to tag him before his foot touched the plate.

Harrison laid on the dirt with his glove in the air to show the umpire that he did indeed still have the ball. After seeing that the ball was still in Harrison's glove, and that he touched Marte's back before his foot touched the plate, he called Marte out to a bunch of boo's.

The Pirates manager was immediately out of the third base dugout and requesting a challenge. All the Cubs players stood at their positions until the replay came up on the scoreboard. They could see that Marte was clearly out and it wasn't going to take long for this play to be confirmed.

As the home plate umpire called Marte out, Harrison walked out to the mound and gave everyone high fives.

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Carrie was waiting for him outside the locker room. Harrison came out and nearly ran into her. "Hey."

She gave him a quick kiss. "You did good today."

"Thanks. Although all of us weren't hitting."

"Was he throwing spin?"

He shook his head. "No. We were all off today. To be honest, we should've crushed the ball off him. We should've put up 10 runs easily. But, a win's a win."

He held the clubhouse door for her. "It is."

I updated this book at last! Finally! And over the month and a half that this book hasn't been updated, I had some time to think about where to take it. As in I was thinking about trading Harrison from the Cubs. My original plan was to have him finish the season in Chicago, but a lot has happened in the MLB so I was thinking about moving him. But what do you guys think? What would you like to see? Because I'm sure open to suggestions. Should I go with my original plan, or add a twist?