“I pitched my game today”
NC Dinos’ Shin Min-hyuk started the second game of the 2024 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League’s “Nakdong River Derby” against the Lotte Giants at Sajik Stadium in Busan on Tuesday and earned his first win of the season, throwing 104 pitches in six innings with five hits, one walk, six strikeouts and no runs allowed.
It proved that his 5⅔ scoreless innings against the SSG Landers in last year’s Semi-Phase (Semi-Po) and two games in the Playoffs (PO), where he went 1-0 with a 1.69 ERA, were no fluke, as he pitched two perfect innings against the San Diego Padres in this year’s World Series Special Game. He had two blown saves and never looked shaky.
It was the perfect start. Shin Min-hyuk took the mound with three runs in the first inning. He got off to a good start by striking out the leadoff hitter, Yoon Dong-hee, on a nine-pitch pitch to right field. He then struck out Ko Seung-min with a 127-kilometer changeup in a nine-pitch contest before getting Victor Reyes to fly out to second base for a triple play.
The first crisis came in the second inning. Shin Min-hyuk got both Jeon Jun-woo and Noh Jin-hyuk to fly out to left field, then gave up a single to Jung Hoon and a walk to Choi Hang to put runners on first and second. But he got the next batter, Jung-hoon, to fly out to center field to escape the jam. In the third inning, Shin continued his cruise, using his changeup against Park Seung-wook, Go Seung-min, and Reyes to record three outs with a “KKK.
The second inning also went well. Shin got leadoff hitter Jeon Jun-woo to ground out to third base to start the fourth inning, but Noh Jin-hyuk and Jeong Hoon were both hit by fastballs to load the bases with back-to-back singles. However, Shin was able to get both Choi Hang and Jung Jung-geun to fly out to end the inning, and after striking out the next three batters in the fifth inning – Park Seung-wook, Yoon Dong-hee, and Seung-min – Shin completed his mission in the sixth inning.
On the day, Shin threw a mix of fastballs (32 pitches), change-ups (45 pitches), and cutters (24 pitches) up to 144 kilometers, and recorded a quality start (six innings of three earned runs or less) with solid support from the bats, earning his first win of the season.
After the game, Shin said, “It feels good to get my first win sooner than I thought. In my last start, I was worried because the result wasn’t as good as I thought it would be, but I think I pitched my best today. It was unfortunate that I got a walk, but overall, my pitches were good,” he said, adding, “Personally, I think the first inning is the most important, and I think I was able to throw comfortably because I solved the first inning well.”
Shin’s confidence on the mound at Sajik Stadium has paid off as he’s had good results every time he’s taken the mound there. He said, “My pitches are good at Sajik 바카라사이트 Stadium. The mound is also a little higher, so I think my changeup goes in better, so I feel more confident in the Sajik Ballpark, and I think I got good results because I tried to throw better in the Sajik.”
On this particular day, Shin also received a ‘tip’ from Castano. Castano, who had faced Victor Reyes in Triple-A, passed on some tips to Shin. “When I was analyzing before the game, Castano told me that he often faced Reyes in Triple-A, so he told me that throwing a changeup with an outside pitch would have good results,” said Shin, who was grateful.
Shin’s goals for the season are 10 wins and regulation innings. “The manager told me, ‘You have to be responsible and work harder. I know what I lack, and I’m studying. My goal is always 10 wins. “I am grateful to the fans who follow me to every away game. I will try to work harder because of this,” he concluded.