SSG Elias-NC Shin Min-hyuk continued their ‘unexpected pitching battle’ by outperforming their opponents
NC started right-hander Min-hyuk Shin in Game 1 in place of ace Eric Peddy, who was hit in the elbow by a pitch in the final inning of the regular season.
Shin split time between the starting rotation and the bullpen this season, going 5-5 with a 3.98 ERA in 29 games and 97 strikeouts in 122 innings pitched.
He struggled against SSG, posting a 6.57 ERA in four appearances and a 5.73 ERA in three games against Incheon.
But with No. 2 starter Tanner Tully already scheduled to pitch in the wild-card game, NC had no choice.
SSG responded by starting Elias. Elias joined the team as a replacement foreigner and went 8-6 with a 3.70 ERA in 22 games, striking out 93 batters in 131 1/3 innings.
Especially in the second half of the season, when he was more acclimatized, he played the role of ace, going 3-3 with a 3.34 ERA in 10 games, helping SSG reach third place.
However, he was weaker against NC, going 1-0 with a 7.53 ERA in three games.
In his first start against the NC, on August 9, he pitched 6 innings and 1 run to win the game, but he fell apart on October 3, giving up 5 runs (4 earned) in 3 innings against the NC and 7 runs in 5⅓ innings against the NC in Changwon on October 8. 토토사이트
As such, the two pitchers have been vulnerable to each other, but this day was different.
Both Elias and Shin Min-hyuk pitched scoreless innings until the middle of the game.
Elias, starting for SSG, pitched at an aggressive tempo and boldly targeted the strike zone.
In the first inning, he struck out the first batter, Son Ah-seob, on a wild pitch, and then induced back-to-back grounders to Park Min-woo and Park Gun-woo for a triple play inning.
Elias did not allow a single batter to reach first base until the NC bats had completed a full inning.
Shin Min-hyuk continued to pitch above expectations. Like Elias, he ended the first inning with a triple play, then retired the next six batters in a row to start the game.
In the bottom of the third inning, Shin started his defense and gave up back-to-back singles to Choi Ji-hoon and Kim Sung-hyun.
A sacrifice bunt by Kim Min-sik put runners on second and third, and after throwing two pitches to Oh Tae-gon, he induced three fouls before striking him out swinging with a changeup.
He then got Park Sung-ho to fly out to left field to end the third inning with no outs.
He gave up back-to-back singles to Park Min-woo and Park Gun-woo to put runners on first and second.
But after a visit from catcher Kim Min-sik, Elias settled down and got Martin to fly out to right field and Kwon Hee-dong to foul out to first base to get out of the first jam.
SSG had another scoring chance in the bottom of the fifth when leadoff hitter Kim Sung-hyun drew a seven-pitch walk.
This time, however, they were unable to capitalize on the opportunity as the next two batters retired the side.