CHANGWON, South Korea, - In a span of days, NC Dinos left-hander Kim Young-kyu has established himself as the team's most reliable reliever in the ongoing Korea Baseball Organization postseason.
The 23-year-old workhorse was at it again Wednesday night, throwing 1 1/3 shutout innings to help the Dinos get past the SSG Landers 7-6 and complete their three-game sweep of the first round.
With 3 2/3 scoreless innings out of the pen while pitching in all three games, Kim was voted the MVP of the series. He earned a win and two holds, including one Wednesday.
Whenever the Dinos hold a late lead, it's now a given that Kim will take the mound at some point. But Kim had to be brought in on short notice in the fifth inning Wednesday, after the second pitcher of the game, Lee Jae-hak, took a line drive off his right hand and had to leave the game immediately.
The Dinos were clinging to a 7-6 lead with two outs in that frame, and Kim faced Lee Jae-won with a tying run at second base.
Kim got Lee to fly out to center to end that threat and then pitched around a two-out walk in the sixth to keep the Landers off the board.
Kim went up against the top of the Landers lineup that inning. Choo Shin-soo, an on-base threat with power, flied out to left before Guillermo Heredia, a .323 hitter in the regular season, flied out to center.
Kim was careful against Choi Jeong, who'd hit a grand slam earlier in the game, and walked him on seven pitches, before retiring slugger Han Yoo-seom on a fly to center.
The Dinos swept the Landers despite only having one starter pitch past five innings. They didn't even have the service of Erick Fedde, the Triple Crown winner in the regular season who has been dealing with right forearm problems after getting struck by a batted ball last week.
Kim and the rest of the bullpen had to do some heavy lifting all series. And Kim, a former starter, proved to be just the durable and effective southpaw the Dinos needed.
"I've been pitching with confidence all series," Kim said. "Instead of one inning at a time, I focused on one hitter at a time in this series. I think it led to such good results."
Kim said there is no secret to his success in big games and big moments.
"In the past, I relied on my older teammates to carry the load," Kim said of his postseason debut during the 2020 Korean Series, which the Dinos won in six games. "Now, I am trying to contribute to the team's wins and hold up my end of the bargain the best I can."
Kim said he was surprised that he was named the series MVP because "we had so many guys who went crazy in this series."
"I was just happy we won the series," Kim added. "I am so thankful for this honor. I will try to keep pitching well in the next series, too."
Kim enjoyed his best regular season as a reliever in 2023, putting up a career-high 24 holds and pitching to a career-best 3.06 ERA across 61 2/3 innings. And it has carried right into the postseason.
In the regular season, Kim went 0-1 with a 3.60 ERA in six appearances against the KT Wiz, the Dinos' next opponents.
"They have good hitters up and down the lineup, and they have guys who can hit some bombs," Kim said. "But right now, our pitchers are in great form, too. So we're going into that series with a lot of confidence."
Source: Yonhap News Agency