Baseball’s NC Dinos homegrown starting pitcher Shin Min-hyuk (24) has become a “one-two punch” alongside Eric Peddy this fall.
Shin threw six innings of one-hit ball with one walk and two strikeouts in the second game of the playoffs (PO) against the KT Wiz at Katie Wiz Park in Suwon on Oct. 31.
The game ended in a 3-2 victory for the NC, and Shin was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the day after pitching his first postseason (PS) victory.
While he didn’t have the same kind of power as Pedi, who struck out the most batters in a PO game (12) in Game 1 the day before, he was efficient and smart, silencing the KT bats.
Shin threw a total of 81 pitches, including 35 changeups, 28 cut fastballs, and 15 fastballs.
His changeup was the deciding factor, as it took away the KT batters’ timing and induced 18 hits, including 12 fly balls and six ground balls.
He also recorded a 66% strike rate (54 of 81 pitches), giving him the advantage in the pitch count battle.
Only Park Byung-ho in the fourth, Kim Sang-soo in the sixth, and Anthony Alford in the seventh were the only batters to get more than three balls in an at-bat against Shin Min-hyuk.
After getting out of the first inning with a triple, Shin Min-hyuk gave up a single to Moon Sang-chul two batters later.
However, after NC scored a run in the top of the third to take a 3-0 lead, Shin battled back as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, retiring four straight batters in the third through sixth innings.
They retired 14 straight batters before Moon Sang-chul, the No. 6 hitter in the second inning, got the first hit and Alford, the No. 3 hitter in the top of the seventh, got the first walk.
After giving up a walk, Shin Min-hyuk induced Park Byung-ho to ground out to first base in the top of the seventh, but a throwing error by second baseman Park Min-woo kept both runners alive.
Shin Min-hyuk then turned the ball over to bullpen Ryu Jin-wook, who pitched a scoreless seventh inning without giving up a hit.
After giving up two runs in the bottom of the eighth, NC had runners on first and third with no outs in the bottom of the ninth, but reliever Lee Yong-chan and shortstop Kim Joo-won made super catches to preserve the win.
Shin Min-hyuk, who made his fall baseball debut on Sept. 22, also pitched 5⅔ innings of scoreless relief in the first round of the semifinals with four hits, one walk and three strikeouts. 먹튀검증
