Last year’s KBO League MVP, right-hander Eric Pedi, 31, pitched well but failed to get his first win of the season again. He’s been throwing well, but his pitches have been elusive.
Pedi started the 2024 Major League Baseball game against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium in Missouri, USA, on June 6 and allowed one run on six hits, two walks, and four strikeouts in five innings. The 1-1 tie kept him from earning his first major league win.
After failing to win for the second straight outing, Peddy lowered his season ERA from 3.86 to 2.79 after allowing two runs on five hits (two homers) and one walk while striking out seven in 4⅔ innings against the Detroit Tigers on April 1, his first start of the season.
After striking out Maikel Garcia on a sinker in the first inning, Pedi gave up a leadoff single to Vinny Pasquantino two batters later and then allowed Salvador Perez to lead off the inning with a single over the center field fence. A low sweeper on the outside was well taken by Perez, who smashed it over the top of the center field fence for a home run.
After striking out the next batter,
MJ Melendez, on a high sinker to end the first inning without further damage, Pedi struck out Nelson Velasquez on a low splitter to lead off the second. He gave up a single to left to Adam Frazier and a wild pitch to put runners on first and second, but got Hunter Renfroe to fly out and Garcia to ground out to third.
In the third, Pedi gave up a single to Perez but retired the next three batters. In the fourth, he retired the next three batters, except for the hit he gave up to Renfroe two batters later. In the fifth, he bounced back with his first triple of the night, but the sixth was a disappointment.
Once again, Perez was the problem. 스포츠토토 After a six-pitch, full-count battle with Perez to lead off, Pedi singled to right and then gave up a straight-up double to Melendez. He had thrown 91 pitches, but with the game tied 1-1, White Sox manager Pedro Griffol made the decision to pull him.
Against Detroit on Jan. 1, Peddy threw 96 pitches with one out in the fifth inning before being removed from the game after five innings, but he failed to reach 100 pitches after being removed from 91 pitches. On the day, Peddie threw 37 pitches, mostly sinkers (94.9 mph, 152.7 km) with an average of 93.6 mph (150.6 km), with splitters (21), sweepers (19), and cutters (14).
The pitching rotation was successful.
Reliever John Brevia got Velasquez to fly out to left field and then induced Frazier to ground into a fielder’s choice. Brevia, who threw home the winning run at third, was injured in the process and replaced by Steven Wilson. Wilson struck out Renfroe on a wild pitch to end the inning with one out. The game ended 1-2 for the White Sox, who gave up the game-winning run in the eighth inning to Michael Kopeck.
It was Peddy’s second straight game of two runs or fewer, but his innings pitched were a question mark. It’s a shame, considering it’s early in the season, when he’s supposed to be upping his pitch count. Last year, he pitched 180 1/3 innings in 30 games in the KBO, averaging a solid six innings per start, but has struggled to manage his pitch count in the majors. His 16.1 pitches per inning last year has increased to 19.3 this year.
Originally drafted by the Washington Nationals with the 18th overall pick in the first round of the 2014 draft, Peddy made his big league debut in 2017 and went 21-33 with a 5.41 ERA and 352 strikeouts in 102 games (88 starts – 454⅓ innings) over five seasons through 2022. He was highly touted as a prospect but didn’t develop as expected, and came to South Korea last year.
In the NC Dinos uniform, he went 20-6 with a 2.00 ERA and 209 strikeouts, becoming the first foreign pitcher to win the triple crown of wins, ERA, and strikeouts. After dominating the KBO with his powerful sweepers and winning the league’s MVP award, he returned to the majors with a two-year, $15 million contract with the White Sox.