‘3-Straight Wins in a Row’ NC Tanner vs ‘Cliffhanger’ SSG Oh Won-seok to Start Semi-Po 3rd Round

‘Fall baseball on the rise’ NC Dinos’ 3-game winning streak or ‘defending champions’ SSG Landers’ fight back?

NC and SSG will play the third game of the semi-playoffs (Semi-PO) at Changwon NC Park on the 25th. The starting pitchers will be NC’s Tanner Tully and SSG’s Oh Won-seok, two left-handed pitchers.

NC manager Kang Myung-hyun initially selected “Triple Crown” ace Eric Peddie, who recorded 20 regular-season wins, a 2.00 ERA, and 209 strikeouts, to start Game 3. However, in a postgame interview after Game 2, Peddie revealed that he was diagnosed with simple impingement syndrome after a medical examination, making it difficult for him to start Game 3.

Tanner, who will start in place of Peddy, made his KBO debut in August, going 5-2 with a 2.92 ERA in 64⅔ innings over 11 games. However, in his fall baseball debut, Game 1 of the Wild Card Decision on Sept. 19, Tanner pitched somewhat below expectations, giving up five runs on seven hits, one home run, three walks and five strikeouts in four innings against the Doosan Bears.

Despite his poor outing in the Wild Card Game, Tanner is the most obvious starter NC can pull out for Game 3 at this point. Tanner is also coming off a great start against SSG on the 7th, going 5 1/3 innings with 8 hits, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts, and 2 earned runs.

SSG, desperate after losing two straight at home, pulled out their Won-seok Oh card. Oh went 8-10 with a 5.23 ERA in 28 regular season games this year. Against NC, he went 2-2 with a 4.98 ERA in four games, and in his most recent outing, he earned a quality start with six innings of five-hit ball, two walks, one strikeout, and three runs.

SSG, which lost two games despite using Elias in Game 1 and Kim Kwang-hyun in Game 2, is still without foreign pitcher Kirk McCarty, who returned from injury. Moon Seung-won, another available starter, was the second pitcher in Game 2 and threw 75 pitches in 4⅔ innings, making it difficult for him to start Game 3. 스포츠토토

SSG will have to hope that Oh Won-seok can repeat his strong performance in Game 3 of the Korean Series last year (5⅔ innings, 5 hits, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts, 1 run).

With two straight wins in enemy territory, all eyes will be on Game 3 on the 25th to see if NC can make it three straight Semi-Po wins at home and move into the playoffs, or if SSG can launch a comeback for a reverse sweep.