Thankfully, the first-place team took it out before the monster pitcher's steel plate made it even more painful
Jul 25, 2025
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Hanwha Eagles breathed a sigh of relief. 'Ace' Cody Ponce's early steel plate surprised everyone, but fortunately, there is no major abnormality.
Ponce started in an away game against the Doosan Bears at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on the 24th and pitched a perfect pitch with two hits, seven strikeouts and no outs in six innings.
In the bottom of the first inning, he allowed Jung Soo-bin to hit and steal, allowing him to advance to the scoring position, but easily caught the opponent's central batters in a fast count. After that, not a single batter was able to step on first base until the fourth inning. Ponce, who continued his scoreless pitching, allowed a hit to leadoff hitter Kim Jae-hwan in the bottom of the fifth inning. After that, Park Joon-soon's sacrifice bunt and Oh Myung-jin's infield grounder made it to third base with two outs. However, there was no loss again this time. Yang Seok-hwan grounded out to third base.
The sixth inning was perfect, too. Kim Daehan~ Jung Subin~Doosan's batters, led by Lee Yoo-chan, failed to reach Ponce's maximum speed of 158 kilometers. He struck out three batters in a row to end the inning. Even Ponce's fastball speed at the end of the sixth inning against the last batter Lee Yoo-chan was 158km. It's an incredible force.
Until the sixth inning, Ponce only threw 70 pitches. However, in the bottom of the seventh inning, when Hanwha led 1-0, Ponce was replaced and Park Sang-won took the mound. The number of pitches was only 70 pitches, but it was a bit of a mystery.
An official from the Hanwha team said after the withdrawal on the same day "He was replaced due to symptoms of muscle clumping in his right shoulder. There is no impact on the next game.
Hanwha manager Kim Kyung-moon, who met with reporters ahead of the home game against SSG Landers at Hanwha Life Ball Park in Daejeon on the 25th, the next day, said, `Ponce seems to have told pitcher coach Yang Sang-moon that he was a little uncomfortable after pitching in the sixth inning. You told me, so I took it out before it got worse. I heard it's a little uncomfortable. The number of pitches was enough to throw more than one inning, but it shouldn't hurt after throwing more for no reason. I just thought I'd take it out altogether,' he said, explaining the background of the steel plate.
According to the rotation, Ponce will take the mound in three consecutive games against the Samsung Lions in Daejeon next week. Manager Kim Kyung-moon said, `First of all, I think I will be able to take the next mound," he added.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
