The Hanwha Eagles of professional baseball broke their three-game losing streak, thanks to a power performance by 'monster foreign player' Cody Ponce, who struck out 18 batters. Ponce broke the KBO League record for most strikeouts in a single game with 17 strikeouts set by Hanwha's Ryu Hyun-jin in 2010, even shedding tears in response to the fans' great cheers.

Hanwha won the first game of the doubleheader against the SSG Landers in the 2025 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon on the 17th, winning 1-0.

Starting pitcher Ponce threw 8 innings, allowing 2 hits, 1 walk, and striking out 18 batters without allowing any runs. With this performance, Ponce tied the KBO League record for most strikeouts in a single game at 18, surpassing Ryu Hyun-jin's 17 strikeouts as a new record for regular innings. Ponce achieved his 8th victory of the season, lowering his earned run average from 1.68 to 1.48.

After a 12-game winning streak, Hanwha was swept by the Doosan Bears during the week, but with this victory, they broke their three-game losing streak, improving to 28 wins and 16 losses. SSG fell to 20 wins, 22 losses, and 1 tie, moving further away from a .500 winning percentage.

It was a game of Ponce, by Ponce, and for Ponce.

From the first inning, Ponce struck out Choi Ji-hoon, Park Seong-han, and Choi Jeong, starting with a 'KKK' inning. In the second inning, he allowed Han Yu-seom to reach base on a walk, but after getting Ryan McBroom to fly out to right field, he struck out Choi Jun-woo and Ahn Sang-hyun in succession with three pitches.

In the third inning, after getting Jung Joon-jae out on a ground ball to first base, Ponce struck out Shin Beom-soo and Choi Ji-hoon consecutively with swinging strikes. In the fourth inning, he also struck out Park Seong-han and Han Yu-seom with swinging strikes, finishing another 1-2-3 inning. In the fifth inning, he struck out McBroom and Choi Jun-woo in succession, quickly surpassing double-digit strikeouts and maintaining his no-hitter.

In the sixth inning, Ponce set the record for most strikeouts by a foreign pitcher in a single game with 'KKK' innings again, striking out Jung Joon-jae and Shin Beom-soo with three pitches in a row, then striking out Choi Ji-hoon with a swinging strike. In the seventh inning, he struck out the first batter, Park Seong-han, with a slider that dipped low and inside, achieving the first-ever record of 15 strikeouts for a foreign pitcher.

After striking out the next batter, Choi Jeong, for a total of 16 strikeouts, Ponce also recorded a ground ball out from Han Yu-seom, continuing his no-hitter through 7 innings. Despite having thrown 97 pitches, Ponce took the mound again in the eighth. He induced a check swing from McBroom on his first pitch, striking him out with three pitches. This was the moment he tied Ryu Hyun-jin's record of 17 strikeouts. Ryu achieved this record on May 11, 2010, during a game against LG in Cheongju.

Overcome with emotion amid tremendous cheers from the fans, Ponce wiped away his tears. With 100 pitches thrown, pitching coach Yang Sang-moon of Hanwha came to the mound, but Ponce continued pitching. He struck out the next batter, Choi Jun-woo, with a change-up after five pitches, breaking Ryu Hyun-jin's record with 18 strikeouts, recalling the record of 18 strikeouts set by Seon Dong-yeol of Haitai 34 years ago. Seon recorded 18 strikeouts over 13 innings against Binggrae on June 19, 1991, in Gwangju.

After setting the remarkable record, Ponce allowed a hit to Ahn Sang-hyun, resulting in the no-hitter being broken. He then permitted a hit to Jung Joon-jae, placing himself in a two-outs, runners on first and third situation. However, he got Shin Beom-soo to fly out to left field, completing his task as the starting pitcher with 8 innings without allowing any runs. In the ninth inning, closer Kim Seo-hyun allowed 2 hits but preserved the 1-run lead, securing the win for Ponce.

Ponce's pitch count for the day was 113, with 81 strikes and 32 balls. He mainly used fastballs (53 pitches), averaging 154 km/h, with a top speed of 157 km/h, along with change-ups (24 pitches), sliders (21 pitches), and curves (15 pitches). Of the 18 strikeouts, 8 were on fastballs, followed by 7 on change-ups, and 2 and 1 on sliders and curves, respectively. There were 15 swinging strikeouts and 3 looking strikeouts.

Only 1 run was sufficient for Ponce to claim victory. Amid a tight pitching duel, Hanwha scored the first run in the bottom of the fourth. After being held scoreless by SSG starter Kim Kwang-hyun until the third inning, Hanwha took the lead in the bottom of the fourth with one out when Lee Do-yoon hit a single to left field, followed by Choi Jae-hoon hitting a double that hit the left field fence over the head of the outfielder. In the meantime, Lee Do-yoon crossed home plate to score the first run of the game.

SSG had a chance in the ninth inning. Lead-off batter Choi Ji-hoon hit a single to center and then stole second base to get into scoring position. Park Seong-han then delivered a single to right field, allowing Choi Ji-hoon to round third and head home. However, right fielder Lee Jin-young made an accurate throw to home plate, tagging out Choi Ji-hoon and preventing the tie. After missing the ball that broke Ponce's no-hitter in the eighth, Lee Jin-young redeemed himself with a crucial play at home plate, making a super save. Continuing from there with one out and runners on second base, Kim Seo-hyun struck out Choi Jeong with a swinging strike and got Han Yu-seom to also strike out swinging, concluding the game with his 13th save of the season.

SSG starter Kim Kwang-hyun pitched 6 innings, allowing 5 hits, 3 walks, and striking out 4 batters while allowing 1 run, achieving a quality start. However, he suffered his 6th loss of the season (with 2 wins) due to being overshadowed by Ponce's performance.

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