“I will do my best to throw many innings with few pitches in my next appearance.”

Song Myeong-gi of the NC Dinos, 메이저사이트 who was suffering from sluggishness at the beginning of the season and has been gradually rebounding by showing good pitches in a row recently, gave his impressions.

Song Myung-ki started the home game against Kiwoom Heroes in the 2023 professional baseball KBO League held at Changwon NC Park on the 6th.

Song Myung-ki, who was nominated by NC for the 7th overall in the 2nd 1st round in 2019, is a right-handed pitcher whose powerful fastball is considered his strength. Until last year, he recorded an average ERA of 4.87 with 22 wins and 19 losses in 59 first-team career games (321.2 innings). In the 2020 season, he took the mound in Game 4 of the Korean Series against the Doosan Bears and became the winning pitcher, leading NC to win the championship.

However, Song Myeong-ki was caught in a sluggish performance this year. Although he started the season as a starting pitcher, he could not pitch stably and frequently visited the futures (second team) league during the first half. He has since been promoted to the first team, but has not been able to establish himself and has also been active in the bullpen. Before this Kiwoom match, his performance was 2-7 with an average ERA of 5.37 in 22 appearances (68.2 innings).

Fortunately, he provided an opportunity for a rebound by throwing well with 3 hits, 3 walks, 2 strikeouts and 3 runs in 6 innings against the Busan Lotte Giants (6-3 NC win) on the 1st. Unfortunately, it was a pitch that made me look forward to future performances, although the batting line broke out late and unfortunately I could not form a relationship with the winning pitcher.

And Song Myung-ki boasted a good condition from the beginning of the day. In the beginning of the first inning, he struck out Kim Jun-wan, Kim Hye-seong, and Ronnie Dawson, and started the game happily with a three-way takedown. In the beginning of the second inning, lead hitter Kim Hui-jip committed a four ball, and Lee Ju-hyeong’s sacrifice bunt drove him to second base, but Kim Dong-heon and Kim Tae-jin were grounded by third baseman and fly by center fielder, respectively, to end the inning.

The sense of stability continued in the beginning of the third inning. Kim Soo-hwan and Ye Jin-won were caught with a fly by the center fielder and a ground ball by the first baseman. He gave up a walk to follow-up hitter Kim Jun-wan, but ended the inning by inducing Kim Hye-seong to second baseman with a ground ball.

The no-hit and scoreless streak was unfortunately broken in the top of the 4th inning. Leading hitter Dawson struck out, but after allowing Kim Hwi-jip to walk, Lee Joo-hyung hit a two-run arch that went over the right fence.

The crisis continued. Kim Dong-heon allowed a hit to the shortstop infield. Then, Kim Tae-jin tied up with a second baseman grounder, but committed a wild throw and was driven to second base with two outs, and here, Song Myeong-ki dedicated a double at the right time for one RBI to Kim Soo-hwan. He struck out Ye Jin-won and did not concede any additional runs.

In the beginning of the 5th inning, he found stability. He induced right field flies in succession against Kim Jun-wan and Kim Hye-seong. Against Dawson, he finished his mission on the day with an outcount with a fly in left field.

The final result was 5 innings, 3 hits, 1 home run, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts and 3 runs. The total number of pitches was 86. Coming off the mound with the team leading 8-3, he won his third win of the season as NC won 12-7 without allowing a tie. Song Myung-ki’s starting win was 119 days after the Changwon Kiwoom match on April 9th.

After the game, NC coach Kang In-kwon praised Song Myeong-ki for his achievements, saying, “As a starting pitcher, Myeong-ki Song perfectly performed his duties and laid the foundation for victory.”

Thanks to Song Myeong-ki’s counterattack, NC ran 4 consecutive victories and recorded 48 wins, 1 draw and 43 losses, and ranked 3rd alone ahead of KT Wiz (49 wins, 2 draws, 44 losses) in terms of win rate.

Song Myung-ki said, “It feels good to be able to win and continue the winning streak,” and “the batters helped me a lot in defense and scored a lot, so it helped me psychologically on the mound.”

Song Myung-ki is slowly overcoming the extreme sluggishness that came at the beginning of the season. On this day, he clearly showed off a good pitch, but he clearly identified what needs to be supplemented. He gave up three walks, and in the top of the fourth inning, he faltered and had difficulty managing the number of pitches. Song Myeong-ki also emphasized about his future goal, “I will do my best to throw many innings with fewer pitches in the next appearance.”