The NC Dinos have finally turned to Korean starter Shin Min-hyuk for their first game of the Short Season instead of their superstar ace Eric Peddie.
In fact, NC is a team that could be described as “Peddie and the kids,” with a huge disparity in performance between Peddie and the rest of the starting pitching staff, so it’s a similar situation no matter who comes in, but there are still questions about Shin’s performance in SSGs this year. Shin has a 6.57 ERA in four SSG starts this year. Of the nine teams he’s faced, that’s second only to Hanwha (8.49 in three games).
NC and the SSG Landers announced their starting pitchers for Game 1 of the semifinals of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO Postseason on the morning of the 21st. NC’s Shin Min-hyuk and SSG’s Roenis Elias will be the starting pitchers for the first game of the semifinals, which will be held at SSG Landers Field in Incheon at 2 p.m. on April 22.
SSG prepared for the series by not ruling out the possibility of Pedi starting Game 1. Pedi did not make the roster for the wild-card deciding game after being hit hard by a pitch against KIA on the 16th. Instead, he has been resting with the goal of making a semi-playoff appearance. NC also left the door open for Pedi to play in the semifinals.
However, he didn’t pitch a ‘smokescreen’. He said he is getting better, but it is still too early to say when he will pitch. After the first game of the wild card deciding round, manager Kang Myung-hyun said about Pedi’s condition, “He seems to be recovering a little bit every day. He’s a little better today than yesterday. We’ll train tomorrow and see how he’s doing, and then we’ll decide when he’ll pitch. It’s too early to talk about it now.”
It wasn’t an easy decision for NC to make, as another foreign pitcher, Tanner Tully, pitched the first game of the wild-card series against Doosan on April 19. Lee Jae-hak also pitched in relief in that game. The remaining starting options were Song Myung-ki and Shin Min-hyuk, who were preparing for Game 2 of the wild-card decider, but NC opted for the latter.
It seems that NC valued recent performances more than head-to-head results in a season. Song Myung-ki has an ERA of 2.38 in four games and Shin Min-hyuk has an ERA of 6.57 in four games against SSG. However, Shin Min-hyuk, not Song Myung-gi, was given the important task of starting the first game of the short season.
Instead, Song Myung-ki struggled at the end of the season. In his last two games, he allowed five runs on seven hits (two home runs) in seven innings with four walks and two strikeouts. One of those games was against SSG on the 8th, where he pitched 4⅓ innings with 5 hits, 3 walks, and 2 earned runs.
Shin Min-hyuk is the opposite. He turned it around in his last start. After giving up 10 runs in 9⅓ innings in the first three games of October, he rebounded with five innings of two-hit ball, striking out five and walking none in the regular season finale against KIA on Sunday.
Among SSG batters, he was weak against Choi Joo-hwan. He allowed six hits and two doubles to Choi, both of which were home runs. Shin-Soo Choo had a strong 1-for-6 night, but that was a home run. Against the reigning batting champion, Guillermo Heredia, they went 0-for-4.
NC’s bats didn’t come alive at the end of the regular season, and they lost back-to-back games to finish fourth. But in the Wild Card Series, the bats came alive with three home runs, including a game-winning grand slam by Seo Ho-cheol. It would be great if starter Shin Min-hyuk could continue the momentum from his last appearance.
Peddie started against the KIA Tigers on October 16 and threw 5⅔ innings of three-hit ball with five strikeouts before being removed after being hit by a pitch. He had already reached 20 wins (6) and 200 strikeouts on October 10 against Hanwha, making him a strong candidate for MVP this season. However, in his 16th game for the team, he injured his right arm.토스카지노 도메인
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Pedi was hit in the right arm by a hard hit ball from Ko Jong-wook and immediately went to the hospital. The medical examination revealed a simple bruise. This allowed him to prepare for the semi-playoffs.
NC put Pedi on the field on the 16th to fight for third place. They thought they could secure third place if they took the last two games against KIA, so they pulled out their ace card, but Pedi was injured and they lost 2-4. With the final standings in fourth place, Tully was scheduled to pitch Game 1 and Song Myung-ki was scheduled to pitch Game 2. Pedi was eventually ruled out of the first round of the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, SSG starter Elias also faced an unfavorable matchup with Shin Min-hyuk. In three appearances against NC this year, he has one win, but his ERA is a whopping 7.53. He was 1-for-7 against Son, but only 1-for-5 against Park Min-woo. Against Wild Card Series hero Seo Ho-cheol, he was 2-for-5.
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