NC Dinos’ Song Myung-ki made a solid contribution to his team’s winning streak.
NC won their home game against Kiwoom Heroes 12-7 on June 6 at NC Park in Changwon. NC has won four straight games to move into sole possession of third place.
While the team showed off their hot bats as all of the starters got hits, the manager was the first to praise the starting pitcher.
“Song Myung-ki did his job perfectly as a starting pitcher and laid the foundation for the victory,” said NC head coach Kang Myung-hwa.
Song Myung-ki struck out all three batters he faced in the first inning and gave up a leadoff single to Kim Hwijip in the second, but a sacrifice bunt and two groundouts ended the inning without a run.
In the bottom of the second inning, the bases were loaded with two outs, but no runs were scored.
The top of the fourth inning was the key. After a walk to Kim Hwijip, Lee Ju-hyung hit a home run. After an infield single by Kim Dong-heon, Kim Tae-jin grounded out to load the bases, but Kim gave up a double to Kim Soo-hwan for the third run. Crunch time. Ye struck out Ye Jin-won to get out of the jam.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Tigers added three more runs, and Song Myung-ki, who had already overcome one big mountain, ended the top of the fifth with a triple play. With the win in hand, Song left the mound with 86 pitches. Five innings, three hits (one home run), four walks, five strikeouts, and three runs.
The bullpen faltered a bit afterward, but the offense came through with a pair of runs to earn the win.
After starting the season as a starter, Song moved to a relief role in late May before returning to the mound in July. His last start came on April 9 against 스포츠토토 Kiwoom. It was his first win in 119 days.
After the game, Song said, “It feels good to get the win and keep the winning streak going,” and “The hitters helped me a lot on defense and gave me a lot of runs, which helped me psychologically on the mound.”
Despite being the winning pitcher, the game was far from perfect. “In my next start, I will do my best to throw more innings with fewer pitches,” Song said.