Cody Ponce (31), ace of the Hanwha Eagles in professional baseball, achieved his 9th win of the season, rising to 1st place in the institutional sector. He continues an MVP pace, leading in nearly all pitching metrics.

Ponce started on the 3rd at Hanwha Life Baseball Park in Daejeon for the 2025 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League home game against the KT Wiz, throwing 6 innings with 2 hits, 1 walk, and 7 strikeouts without allowing a run. With a strong performance leading Hanwha to a 10-1 victory, Ponce added another win.

With his 9th win coming in his 13th appearance, Ponce has yet to lose. He surpassed Im Chan-kyu (LG) and Park Se-woong (Lotte), both tied with 8 wins, to take the lead in the institutional sector. Lowering his earned run average from 1.94 to 1.80, Ponce also increased his strikeouts from 105 to 112. He is on pace for the pitching Triple Crown, a feat achieved by only four players a total of seven times, leading in wins, earned run average, and strikeouts.

From the start of the first inning, he was impressive. Ponce induced ground balls from KT’s 1-2 table setters Kim Min-hyeok and Lee Jung-hoon with a changeup and slider, respectively, getting two outs, before striking out Ahn Hyun-min swinging. With a high fastball clocked at 153 km/h, he had a quick 12-pitch inning.

In the second inning, he handled Mel Rojas Jr. with a curve for a shallow infield pop-up, then struck out Heo Kyung-min with a high 154 km/h fastball. He then got Jang Seong-woo to ground out to second for another quick inning. Despite the strong hit, second baseman Lee Do-yoon made a good play.

In the third inning, after striking out lead-off batter Jang Jin-hyuk with a changeup, he allowed his first hit to Park Min-seok, who singled to left. Then, during a misplay on a ball hit in front of center field by Kwon Dong-jin, KT's first base runner, Park Min-seok, made a wrong decision. He was caught out trying to return to first base after being deceived by Hanwha's defensive maneuver, running to second. Kwon Dong-jin's single became a groundout to center field, and Ponce was all smiles.

Continuing with Kim Min-hyeok's single to left in a 2-out situation with runners on first and second, he struck out Lee Jung-hoon looking on a changeup that hit the low outside corner. He gave up 3 hits but finished the third inning without allowing a run.

In the fourth, Ponce induced a ground ball from Ahn Hyun-min to the shortstop and handled Rojas with a fly ball to center field. Before throwing the sixth pitch to Rojas, he gestured to catcher Choi Jae-hun to signal for a sign as the sign exchange took too long. Then, with a 154 km/h fastball, he induced a flyout to center, finishing the inning by striking out Heo Kyung-min swinging with a changeup.

In the fifth inning, he allowed the lead-off batter Jang Seong-woo to reach first base on a walk, but struck out Jang Jin-hyuk looking with a curve, then threw a two-seam fastball to Kang Min-seong that induced a ground ball to shortstop, ending the inning with a 6-4-3 double play. In the sixth, he struck out Kwon Dong-jin looking with a low curve, and ended the inning by getting Bae Jeong-dae to pop out to shortstop and Lee Jung-hoon to fly out to left.

Hanwha's offense exploded for 9 runs by the fifth inning, securing an early advantage, and Ponce handed over the mound to the bullpen at the start of the 7th inning, finishing with a total of 91 pitches. He balanced his pitch selection with a maximum speed of 155 km/h and an average of 152 km/h on 35 fastballs, along with sliders, curves (19 each), changeups (18), and 1 two-seam fastball.

After the game, Ponce noted, “Overall, it was good. The strong wind was blowing from the third base side, and the feeling of stepping on the pitching mound was a bit different than usual, but it was fun,” adding, “As a starter, it feels good to contribute to the team's victory. Today, all the players did well in offense and defense, so we were able to win. I am focused on helping the team win in every game.”

Regarding his undefeated streak, Ponce said, “You never know what will happen in baseball. My role is to focus and do my best in every game. I don’t know what will happen next, so I try to focus on the present rather than the results.”

While Ponce pitches well wherever he goes, he is particularly strong at home in Daejeon. Up to that day, he had 5 wins and an earned run average of 0.86 in 6 home games. His home performance is significantly better than in 7 away games (4 wins, earned run average of 2.72), as he has not allowed a run for 28 consecutive innings in his last 4 home games. His last earned run at home in Daejeon was in the 5th inning against Lotte on April 3, marking 30 consecutive innings without giving up a run since the 6th inning of that game.

Ponce said, “I don’t particularly notice a difference between home and away games, except for when there aren’t many fans, like in Ulsan. Hanwha fans come to support us not just at home but also on the road. They make us feel supported like it's a home game no matter where we are,” expressing gratitude towards Hanwha's nationwide fan base.

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