Cody Ponce of the Hanwha Eagles started in the first game of the season against the KIA Tigers of the 2025 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League at Hanwha Life Ball Park in Daejeon on Sunday. He was selected as the starting pitcher for the opening game of the historic Daejeon New Stadium.카지노
Ponce is a foreign player who is wearing a Hanwha uniform for a total of 1 million U.S. dollars ahead of this season. Ponce is an athlete whose strength is fastball that comes from his 198-centimeter-tall stature, and has various pitching types and compliance with ball control.
Ponce recorded one win, seven losses and an earned run average of 5.86 in 20 games (55 ⅓ innings) in the U.S. Major League Baseball. Ponce also played for the Nippon-Ham Fighters and the Rakuten Golden Eagles in the Japanese pro baseball league, where he recorded 10 wins, 16 losses and an earned run average of 4.54 in 39 games (202 innings).
He is adjusting well to the KBO League. He had 10 strikeouts and zero earned runs in two exhibition games (nine innings). He also started his team in the opening game against the KT Wiz on Tuesday, allowing seven hits, one out and four strikeouts in five innings.
Ponce started with a hit by leadoff hitter Kim Sun-bin in the first inning, but grounded out Hong Jong-pyo and treated Na Sung-beom with a double play. In the second inning, he gave up a hit to Lee Woo-sung after two outs and allowed a hit to Choi Won-joon, but he ended the inning without losing a point by tagging out Lee Woo-sung, who was heading from second base to third base. In the third inning, Noh Si-hwan's throwing error came out and allowed Kim Tae-gun to get on base, but he showed strength to deal with Kim Kyu-sung, Kim Sun-bin and Hong Jong-pyo all with strikeouts.
However, Choi gave up a run in the fourth inning. After one out, he was hit by a double by Choi. While facing Patrick Wisdom, Choi made five 155-km fastballs at 2B-2S, leading to a wild pitch, which allowed Choi to reach third base. Eventually, Choi lost a point when he hit a fly ball.
After finishing the fifth inning with a clean three-out inning, he gathered his teammates to cheer them up, drawing applause from Hanwha fans. Ponce, who also took the mound in the sixth inning, gave up a walk to Na Sung-bum after two outs, but grounded out Choi Hyung-woo.
And he pitched in the seventh inning as well. There was a crisis. He hit a solo home run by Wizdom, the leadoff hitter. He sent Lee to right field with a fly ball, but he got an infield hit by Choi Won-joon. He handled Kim with a fly ball to second base, but Kim Gyu-seong hit the ball to the first and third bases with two outs. Ponce was strong against the crisis. He swung and missed to strike out Byun and roared.
Was it because of Ponce's fighting spirit and roar? The quieter Hanwha lineup gained strength. After two outs in the seventh inning, Kim Tae-yeon hit a home run and succeeded in making a five-run big inning. He then garnered two more runs in the eighth inning to secure a 7-2 victory.
On the day, Ponce allowed seven hits (one homer) and eight strikeouts and two runs in seven innings. He garnered his debut win in the KBO league along with Quality Start Plus (three earned runs or less in seven innings as a starter). He also became the star of the historic Daejeon New Stadium's first win. Ponce enabled his team to overcome a four-game losing streak by displaying his fighting spirit of throwing 105 pitches with a maximum speed of 156 kilometers per hour.
After the game, Ponce said, "It's an honor to be able to throw in the opening game at home, but I'm really happy that I became a winning pitcher in my first official game at a new stadium. It's all the strength of my colleagues who wanted to win with one mind," he said.
What did he bring in teammates to deliver after finishing pitching in the top of the fifth inning? "I said, 'I trust you guys' after the fifth inning,'" Ponce said, "I told the fielders, 'Let's cheer up because if we score just one point, things will go well. I was able to become a winning pitcher because I gave up a lot of points after the seventh inning."
A crowd of 17,000 people gathered for the first game of the historic Daejeon New Stadium. Cheering for Hanwha players was loud every inning.
"More than anything, it was a game that confirmed the huge passion of Hanwha fans. Your fans have a lot of energy. I will do my best on the mound to receive this roar," Ponce said with a smile.