Maybe it was the hot weather.

NC Dinos pitcher Eric Peddy left the mound early with his worst outing in his KBO debut.

Peddy started against the Lotte Giants at Sajik Stadium in Busan on April 2 and gave up five runs on nine hits in four innings. NC fell to 3-6 and Peddie suffered his third loss of the season.

It was the first time this season that Peddie did not make it out of the fifth inning. She pitched the fewest innings in a game (previously five) and allowed the most hits (previously seven). The most runs he has allowed in a game is three, which he did four times.

Entering the KBO this season, Pedi is one of the best pitchers in the league. He led the league in wins (14) and ERA (1.74). He also has the most strikeouts (121) and the lowest walks allowed per inning (0.98).

But on this day, his ERA jumped from 1.74 to 2.10. This is the first time this season that Peddy’s ERA has been in the double digits.

With the score tied at 0-0 in the bottom of the second inning, Pedi gave up back-to-back singles to Jeon Jun-woo and Lee Jung-hoon to put runners in scoring position. He then gave up a leadoff single to Park Seung-wook. He walked Noh Jin-hyuk to load the bases, but then induced a foul fly from Shin Jung-geun. After giving up two runs on a wild pitch to Ahn Kwon-soo, Pedi induced a grounder to third base to end the inning after a nine-pitch battle.

NC scored one run in the third and two in the fourth to pull within 3-2.

Pedi gave up the go-ahead run in the bottom of the fourth inning. After leading off with an infield single, Park Seung-wook was hit by a 129-kilometer-per-hour 토토 curveball from Shin Jung-geun at first base, robbing him of a two-run home run. Two batters later, he gave up a double to Kim Min-seok and a single to Nico Gudrum for the fifth run.

Pedi did not show his usual power. Lotte’s batters cut at his pitches and were relentless, and in the second inning, he threw the ball where catcher Park Se-hyuk couldn’t catch it.

In the end, Pedi threw 78 pitches (51 strikes) until the fourth inning and handed the mound over to Kim Si-hoon at the end of the fifth inning.