Daejeon: Ponce redeems self, pitches Eagles to Korean Series. Six days after being humbled by the Samsung Lions in his South Korean postseason debut, Hanwha Eagles starter Cody Ponce redeemed himself Friday night with a strong bounceback performance. Ponce pitched the Eagles to their first Korean Series in 19 years, with five innings of one-run ball in an 11-2 victory over the Lions in Game 5 of the best-of-five in the second round of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason. Ponce struck out nine and scattered five hits before a sellout crowd of 16,750 at Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark in the central city of Daejeon.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Ponce had an inauspicious start to the game, as he gave up back-to-back singles and a walk with two outs in the top first. But he struck out Kim Tae-hoon, who'd homered off Ponce in Game 1 last Saturday, to end that threat. About that first game: Ponce was credited with the win in a 9-8 Eagles victory, but he also surrendered six runs on seven hits in six innings, tying the KBO postseason record for the most runs allowed by a winning pitcher. It was far from vintage Ponce, who won the Triple Crown by leading the KBO with 17 wins, a 1.89 ERA and a KBO-record 252 strikeouts.
And after the Eagles blew a 4-0 lead to lose 7-4 in Game 4 on Wednesday, Ponce got another chance to take on the Lions, this time with a ticket to the Korean Series on the line. After the Eagles scored twice in the bottom first, Ponce gave up his only run on a passed ball charged to his catcher Choi Jae-hoon in the top second. But the pitcher quickly cleaned up the mess by picking off Kim Ji-chan at first base. Ponce pitched around a single and an intentional walk to Kim Young-woong, the most dangerous hitter on either side in this series, in the top third.
The Eagles spotted him three more runs to build a 5-1 lead, and that was more than enough run support for the American ace. Ponce took a line drive hit by Lewin Diaz to his left chest in the top third but was none the worse for wear the rest of the game. Ponce struck out two batters, both with his signature fastballs, in the fourth inning, and then his two strikeouts in the fifth inning came via changeups. The Eagles bats never slowed down as they tacked on two runs in the bottom fifth, and Ponce had done his part after 82 pitches as fellow starter Ryan Weiss began the top sixth in his first relief appearance of the year.
Ponce touched 157 kilometers per hour with his four-seam fastball, and 24 of his 30 fastballs went for strikes. Ponce mixed in 28 changeups, 17 curveballs, five sliders and two cutters. Ponce said afterward the key to his success Friday night was to go after Lions hitters and follow catcher Choi's lead. And that game plan won't change in the Korean Series, where the Eagles will face the LG Twins.
"Throw whatever Choi Jae-hoon tells me to," Ponce answered when asked how he will approach the Twins. The Twins were the only team Ponce didn't earn a win against during the regular season, but Ponce said he won't worry about his personal stats in the next round. "I don't care if I get a win as long as our team gets a win," he said. "I can go out there and give my best five innings, and if it's 0-0 and I don't get a decision, I'm okay with that. I think the only thing I care about right now is doing my best in helping the team continue to move forward and try to win the Korean Series."
With Ponce having pitched Friday and the Korean Series starting Sunday, the Eagles won't have him available until Game 3 or 4 next week. That may work in the Twins' favor, but Ponce said his Korean Series schedule was the furthest thing from his mind during Game 5. "I think as of right now our main goal was to get to the Korean Series," he said. "We will figure it out. I have full trust and faith in all of our starters. So at the end of the day it's nine innings, 27 outs, and we just got to go out and perform at our best."