For the fifth time this year, the best pitcher in baseball, Eric Peddy (NC Dinos), reached the 20-win and 200-strikeout milestones in a season. Peddy started the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League home game against the Hanwha Eagles on Tuesday at NC Park in Changwon, Gyeongnam, and pitched six innings of scattered seven-hit ball with six strikeouts.NC took a 2-0 lead in the third inning behind Peddie’s shutout and Jason Martin’s two-run double off the left-field fence. Peddie struck out leadoff hitter Choi In-ho in the first inning and then got Chae Eun-sung to ground out to end the inning for his 200th strikeout of the season. Peddie, who made his KBO debut this year in an NC uniform and has dominated Korean professional baseball with his “sweeper” (a modified slider with a large lateral curve), finished the season with a 20-6 record and 204 strikeouts.
Pedi was followed by Jang Myung-bu of the Sammi Superstars in 1983 (30 wins and 220 strikeouts), the late Choi Dong-won of the Lotte Giants in 1984 (27 wins and 223 strikeouts), and Kim Si-jin of the Samsung Lions in 1985 (25 wins and 201 strikeouts), Sun Dong-yeol of the 1986 Hattae Tigers (24 wins, 214 strikeouts), and became the fifth pitcher in history to reach the 20-win and 200-strikeout milestones. Pedi finally reached the 20-win mark in a return matchup nine days ago against Hanwha after giving up three runs (two earned) in six innings and leaving without a win. He reached the 20-win plateau in just his third attempt after earning his 19th win against the Doosan Bears on March 19.Pedi became the first pitcher in the KBO to win 20 games in three years, following Raul Alcantara (Doosan Bears) in 2020, and the fourth foreign pitcher to surpass 200 strikeouts. Pedi led the league in wins, strikeouts, and ERA (2.06), putting him on pace for a triple crown.
NC got on the board in the third inning when Son Asub singled, Choi Jung-won singled to left, put runners on first and second with Martin’s RBI double off the bottom of the fence in left-center field .Lim Jeong-ho (seventh), Ryu Jin-wook (eighth) and Lee Yong-chan (ninth) combined for a no-hitter to help Pedi reach the milestone .Lee Jung-hoo (25-Kiwoom Heroes), who will try out for Major League Baseball (MLB) after the season, made a surprise return three months after surgery and played in Kiwoom’s final home gam e.Lee came in as a pinch-hitter for Park Soo-jong with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth inning of the Samsung Lions’ 5-3 home game at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Tuesday .Lee, who had his season virtually cut short after undergoing a mass on his left ankle on July 27, has been rehabbing for more than two months and came to the game to say goodbye to fans in time for Kiwoom’s final home game of the season.
Before stepping up to the plate, Lee took off his helmet and politely greeted the crowd in the stands. MLB San Francisco Giants general manager Pete Putteler, who was sitting in the center field seats to watch Lee, stood up and welcomed him with a 스포츠토토 round of applause .Lee battled Samsung right-handed reliever Kim Tae-hoon for 12 pitches, but was caught on a grounder to third base. After running full speed to first base, Lee showed that his post-surgery rehabilitation is going well .Lee also played defense in center field in the top of the ninth inning .However, Kiwoom took the lead for good in the bottom of the first inning when Lim hit a two-run arch over the left field fence. SSG Landers defeated the KIA Tigers 6-5 in Gwangju, South Korea. Sixth-ranked KIA’s path to fall baseball became more difficult.
KIA took a two-run lead in the first inning on Lee Woo-sung’s RBI single to right and Byun Woo-hyuk’s infield single, but SSG quickly responded with four runs in the fourth on back-to-back singles by Han Yoo-seom and Kim Sung-hyun and a two-run double to left-center by Ha Jae-hoon.KIA took advantage of an SSG error in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at 4-4, but SSG scored two more runs in the seventh on an RBI single to right-center field by Oh Tae-gon and an RBI triple to right field by pinch-hitter Choo Shin-soo to secure the win.The LG Twins swept the Lotte Giants 7-0 to advance to the Korean Series. Lotte will miss the postseason for the sixth straight year regardless of how many games they play.LG scored two runs in the fourth inning on Kim Hyun-soo’s double to left-center, Austin Dean’s triple to right-center and Oh Ji-hwan’s sacrifice fly.
In the bottom of the fifth, Park Hae-min’s three-run homer to right center practically sealed the game, then Austin’s sacrifice fly and Moon Bo-kyung’s RBI double added two more runs. LG left-hander Son Ju-young limited the Lotte bats to two hits and pitched five scoreless innings to earn his first win in two years With 85 wins, two ties and 54 losses on the season, LG will break the franchise record for most wins in a season by one if it wins its remaining three games .KT WIZ, the first of the 10 clubs to finish, clinched second place and a direct playoff berth with a 5-4 victory over the Doosan Bears in the final game of the regular season in Suwon. Trailing 1-2 in the bottom of the eighth inning, Bae Joo-seon-sang’s two-run double to left field turned the tide, but a botched save by Kim Jae-yoon in the top of the ninth put KT in danger of losing the game.
However, KT tied the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth with a thunderous mid-month home run by Hwang Jae-gyun, and then took advantage of a bases-loaded opportunity against Doosan closer Jeong Chul-won to win the game with a game-ending double play. Doosan dropped a close win and slipped from third to fifth place.