Hanwha falls short of victory in 6 innings, 9 runs, 3 hits

NC Dinos' foreign-born ace Eric Pedi is one win away from reaching 20 wins and 200 strikeouts in a season.

Peddy started the game against the Hanwha Eagles of the 2023 Shinhan Bank Solar KBO League at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon on Monday and allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits with nine strikeouts in six innings.

Pedi, who had 19 wins (6 losses) and 189 strikeouts before this game, was looking to reach 20 wins and 200 strikeouts in the same outing.

However, he was removed from the game in the bottom of the seventh inning with the score tied 3-3. He was able to extend his strikeout total to 198.

There have only been four other times in the 42-year history of baseball that a player has won 20 games and struck out 200 batters in a single season.

Jang Myung-bu of the Sammi Superstars in 1983 (30 wins and 220 strikeouts), Choi Dong-won of the Lotte Giants in 1984 (27 wins and 223 strikeouts), Kim Si-jin of the Samsung Lions in 1985 (25 wins and 201 strikeouts), and Sun Dong-yeol of the Hattae Tigers in 1986 (24 wins and 214 strikeouts).

After 37 years of waiting, Peddie was ready for the next one.

Peddie got off to a rocky start, giving up two runs in the first inning.

He gave up a double to left-center field to leadoff man Choi In-ho, and a throwing error by the center fielder allowed the runner to advance to third. The next batter, Moon Hyun-bin, hit a single to left field to score the go-ahead run.

Chae Eun-sung was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and third, but Peddie gave up a sacrifice fly to Nick Williams to extend the lead to two.

Peddie gave up a single to Kim In-hwan and a walk to Choi Jae-hoon to load the bases again, but he got Kwon Kwang-min to ground out to first and Oh Sun-jin to strike out to end the inning.

Pedi added another run in the second inning.

After giving up a leadoff single to Lee Do-yoon, Pedi struck out Choi In-ho, but a stolen base and a catcher's choice moved Lee to third. After striking out Moon Hyun-bin, Pedi induced an infield grounder to Chae Eun-sung, but the shortstop made a throwing error that allowed Lee to score.

After getting Williams to ground out to second to end the second inning, Pedi settled down in the third. He retired the side in order in the third through fifth innings, and got out of the sixth inning with just one hit.

While Pedi settled down, NC scored two runs in the top of the third on a sacrifice fly by Park Gun-woo and a wild pitch, then tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the fifth on a solo shot to right by Park Min-woo.

With the game tied at 3-3, Pedi would have had a chance to reach the 20-win mark, but he was relieved by Lim Jung-ho in the seventh inning. 스포츠토토링크