Something's wrong with this. Humiliation in the Ponce 18K milestone, but there's an advantage? I can see better

May 22, 2025

Something's wrong with this. Humiliation in the Ponce 18K milestone, but there's an advantage? I can see better
SSG won 4 consecutive games with a 9-1 victory at Jamsil Baseball Stadium on the 21st. SSG players enjoying the joy of victory. Jamsil = Reporter's wook@sportschosun.com/2025.05.21/



"After seeing 2 balls, I thought something was wrong with this."

SSG Landers had a 'day of humiliation' in Daejeon on the 17th. Game 1 of the doubleheader against the Hanwha Eagles. The opposing starting pitcher, Cody Ponce, performed a truly 'life pitching'.

SSG, which became the opposing team, did not have a single hit from the 1st to the 7th inning. Ponce's ball was so good that day. It was also difficult to hit the ball properly with the bat, and after striking out piled up, he eventually gave up 18 strikeouts in eight innings. Fortunately, it was comforting that Ahn Sang-hyun and Jung Joon-jae's hits came out with two outs in the eighth inning, breaking 'no hit'.




Something's wrong with this. Humiliation in the Ponce 18K milestone, but there's an advantage? I can see better
SSG-Hanwha match held at Hanwha Life Ball Park in Daejeon on the 17th. Ponce, who also took the mound in the eighth inning, is cheering for McBroom's check swing toward the first base. Daejeon = Reporter Jung Jae-geun cjg@sportschosun.com /2025..May 17/
The record for the most strikeouts in 9 innings in the KBO League. SSG, which became a great asset, lost 0-1 in the top of the last ninth inning when it missed the chance to hit first and third bases with no outs.

Ponce is the scariest pitcher in the league this season. But this day was the day of the 'scratching'. After the game, the SSG players also "It was usually good, but today it was even better. There was something different for sure," he said in unison.

Jihoon Choi, who faced Ponce as the first batter at the time, went into his first at-bat in the first inning and saw two balls. I watched the first fastball and swung knowing it was the second fastball, but the ball didn't hit the bat and came in far away. At that moment, he said, `Something's wrong.'




Something's wrong with this. Humiliation in the Ponce 18K milestone, but there's an advantage? I can see better
A match between SSG Landers and NC Dinos at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on the 13th. SSG Jihoon Choi is striking out. Incheon = Reporter Park Jae-man pjm@sportschosun.com /2025.05.13/
Ponce's pitch was so great that the trajectory of the ball could not even fit the bat even if he swung knowing it was a fastball. If SSG hitters were similar, they continued to bat to guess, but the result came back with a regret of 18 strikeouts. "On that day, it seemed like a first-time Major League Baseball pitcher came and threw it" was followed by vivid testimony.

But there was also an unexpected advantage. After watching Ponce's monstrous ball, I'm experiencing a strange effect where the balls of other pitchers are relatively more visible.

In particular, the game that Ponce set a milestone at the time was the first game of the doubleheader between SSG and Hanwha, and SSG won 5-2 against Hanwha's second starter Ryan Weiss in the fifth inning. If we played the next day instead of a doubleheader, the aftermath of the shock defeat to Ponce might have lasted quite a while. However, there was no time to be shocked, and fortunately, the second game of the doubleheader was held immediately and the game was caught, and the aftereffects were small.




Something's wrong with this. Humiliation in the Ponce 18K milestone, but there's an advantage? I can see better
SSG won 4 consecutive games with a 9-1 victory at Jamsil Baseball Stadium on the 21st. Manager Lee Sung-yong and winning pitcher Anderson . Jamsil = Reporter's wook@sportschosun.com/2025.05.21/
And after experiencing Ponce's tremendous pitching, the burden was less than before even if they faced the opposing team's first and second starting pitchers. Of course, there is an overall not bad effect of SSG's recent hitting, but it is certainly experiencing psychological effects.

Since Ponce, even Rice, Ryu Hyun-jin, and Doosan Zachlog have easily scored in the early stages, and SSG has won four consecutive games since the 'Day of Shame'.



This article was translated by Naver AI translator.