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Pedi’s condition has not recovered 100%”

KT Wiz and NC Dinos will face off in Game 5 of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League Postseason Playoffs (PO) at KT Wiz Park in Suwon on the 5th. .

If NC had a one-sided victory from the wild card (WC) decision to the semi-playoffs (quasi-PO), the current playoffs are a little different. It was NC that took the lead. NC won the 1st and 2nd games in a row, running a 6-game winning streak this postseason, and ranked 2nd for the most consecutive wins in a single postseason held by the Hyundai Unicorns (7 consecutive wins from the 1st game of PO in 2000 to the 3rd game of KS).

Although it failed to create a new postseason record, NC created a meaningful record. 9 consecutive wins in the postseason that began with the 4th game of the 2020 Korean Series, which was the ‘first combined championship since its founding’. With this record, NC succeeded in being on par with the Haitai Tigers (4th PO game in 1987 to 3rd KS game in 1988). The trend seemed to be leaning towards NC, but the trend changed from the third game onwards.

KT defeated NC in the 3rd game with 'native ace' Go Young-pyo, and on the previous day (3rd), 'win rate king' William Cuevas, who took the mound after a 3-day break, tightly tied up NC's batting line and succeeded in turning the series back to square one. did. And now both teams are facing off in the 5th game. As of now, there is a very high possibility that KT will perform a reverse sweep for the third time in history. It was because of Eric Peddy’s failure to start.

In the last game of the regular season, Peddie was hit on the forearm by a hard hit from Jong-wook Ko of the KIA Tigers. Because of this, Peddie was unable to take the mound in the wild card and semi-playoffs. Peddy, who had taken a break, returned to the first game of the last playoffs, striking out as many as 12 batters in 6 innings and allowing 1 run (1 earned run), contributing greatly to the team's early momentum.

The problem came later. In an interview with reporters ahead of Game 2, Coach Kang In-kwon said, "There were no issues with Pedi's injury," but "I received a report that only the fatigue in his shoulder was slightly high. Since there was a gap between pitches, the fatigue in the shoulder area may have been caused by pitching before. “It appears to be a little higher than expected. We will monitor the training process and schedule the next appearance,” he said.

Even after the 4th game ended on the 3rd, coach Kang In-kwon said, "Peddy's condition has not recovered 100% right now. I am worried. Shin Min-hyuk is not bad either. I will check his condition further tomorrow morning and make a decision." And the concerns became reality. Peddie failed to start the 5th game, and Shin Min-hyuk was faced with a situation where he had to save the team in crisis.

Shin Min-hyuk appeared in 5 games against KT this year and was not bad with 2 wins, 2 losses, and an average ERA of 3.70, but it is true that he lacks weight compared to Peddie. In his career, he has pitched in 10 games (8 starts) against KT and has 3 wins, 3 losses, and an average ERA of 3.63.

KT, aiming for a ‘reverse sweep’, will feature Wes Benjamin on the mound. Benjamin appeared in 3 games against NC this year, recording 1 win, 2 losses, and an ERA of 5.65. In a total of 6 games, he recorded 2 wins, 3 losses, and an ERA of 3.73. In this postseason, he appeared in 1 game, allowing 4 hits (1 home run) in 5 innings. He gave up 3 runs (3 earned runs).