The NC Dinos, led by Eric Peddie, defeated the SSG Landers, led by Kim Kwang-hyun, in a tight pitching battle to stay in the race for second place.
Peddie pitched seven shutout innings to lead NC to a 2-0 victory over SSG in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on Monday.
With their fifth straight win, NC improved their record to 49-1 and 43-43, closing the gap on second-place SSG (52-1 and 40-43) to three games. They also maintained their dominance in the season series against SSG with a 7-2 record.
NC starter Eric Peddie picked up his 15th win (3-0) with seven innings of four-hit ball, one walk, five strikeouts and no runs. Notably, with his 15th win in 19 appearances, Peddie tied Kim Il-young (Samsung Lions) for the most wins in a minimum of 15 games with Kim in 1985.
In the ninth inning, closer Lee Yong-chan pitched a scoreless inning to earn his 17th save (3-2).
SSG, on the other hand, dropped its second straight game and widened its gap to five games over the first-place LG Twins (57-2-35).
SSG starter Kim Kwang-hyun pitched six innings of five-hit ball with two walks and four strikeouts, but the slumping offense couldn’t get any run support and the team suffered its fourth loss in six games.
The SSG bats had been scoreless in 21 consecutive innings from the eighth inning against the Lotte Giants on Friday (which ended in 10 extra innings) until today, deepening manager Kim Won-hyung’s woes.
The game was scoreless until the third inning thanks to strong pitching from both teams’ starting pitchers, but the balance was broken in the top of the fourth inning.
NC opened the inning with a leadoff single to right field by Park Min-woo. Jason Martin then hit an infield grounder to end the threat, but Kim Sung-wook singled to left to put runners on first and third.
Yoon then hit Kim’s 134-kilometer slider to left field for a sacrifice fly, and Martin tagged up to score from third.
From there, the game went back to a pitcher’s duel. 스포츠토토 Both teams had chances but couldn’t capitalize.
SSG had a chance in the bottom of the fourth inning when Park Sung-i singled with runners on first and third. In the bottom of the sixth, Choi Ji-hoon hit an infield single but failed to steal second base, and in the bottom of the seventh, Park Sung-ho hit another single with runners on first and second to end the inning.
NC had Martin ground out to second base with the bases loaded in the top of the fifth, and failed to capitalize on runners on first and second in the seventh and first and third in the eighth.
In the top of the ninth, NC took advantage of SSG’s shaky defense. One out later, Kim Joo-won drew a walk and SSG shortstop Park Sung-sung tried to steal second base when Son Asub grounded into an infield single, leaving both runners alive. Kim Joo-won, who was on second base, promptly stole third.