Ponce Surpasses Ryu Hyunjin's 17 Strikeouts in a Nine-Inning Game
Hanwha Eagles' foreign ace Cody Ponce made history in Korean professional baseball.
Hanwha Eagles foreign pitcher Cody Ponce started as the starting pitcher in the home game against NC held at Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark on the 20th of last month, delivering a strong performance. Photo by Yonhap News
On May 17, in the first game of a doubleheader against SSG Landers at Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark during the 2025 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League, Ponce pitched eight innings, allowing only two hits and no runs, and struck out 18 batters.
With this achievement, Ponce tied the KBO League single-game strikeout record set 34 years ago by Sun Dongyeol (then with Haitai Tigers) in June 1991, who struck out 18 batters against Binggrae Eagles (now Hanwha).
At that time, Sun Dongyeol pitched through 13 innings in extra innings to reach 18 strikeouts.
If only the regulation nine innings are considered, Ponce set a new record, surpassing the 17 strikeouts by Ryu Hyunjin (Hanwha) against LG Twins in May 2010.
Additionally, Ponce easily broke the previous record for most strikeouts in a single game by a foreign pitcher, which was 14 and had been set by seven pitchers, including Drew Anderson of SSG Landers last month, establishing a new mark.
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