Big Match Made by Rain Cancellation...Hanwha Ponce vs KIA Nails on the 4th in Gwangju on the 'Great Battle'
Big Match Made by Rain Cancellation...Hanwha Ponce vs KIA Nails on the 4th in Gwangju on the 'Great Battle'
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The cancellation of the rain resulted in a big match. The foreign ace, who is dominating the KBO League as the best pitcher in the 2025 season, will face off as a starter a day before Children's Day.
The Hanwha Eagles and the KIA Tigers announced Cody Ponce and James Nail as starting pitchers for the 2025 Shinhan Sol Bank KBO League game at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field on the 4th, respectively.
Initially, Hanwha and KIA put up Moon Dong-ju and Nail as starting pitchers for the game on the 3rd, respectively.
Baseball fans' attention was focused on the showdown between Moon Dong-joo, who has emerged as a star representing the league, and KIA's flagship batter Kim Do-young.
Moon Dong-ju, a graduate of Jinheung High School, and Kim Do-young, a graduate of Gwangju Dongseong High School, entered the professional arena with great attention in the 2022 rookie draft. Moon received the first nomination by Hanwha and Kim Do-young by KIA.
Moon Dong-ju became a star by winning the Rookie of the Year award in 2023, and Kim Do-young dominated the league in 2024 and won the MVP award, solidifying his position as a star representing Korean baseball.
The showdown between the two pitchers, dubbed "Moon Kim Dae-jeon" among baseball fans, was scheduled to take place in 10 months, but was blocked by rain.
The match between Hanwha and KIA, which was scheduled to be held on the 3rd, was canceled due to spring rain that has been tracking down since the morning.
KIA announced the nail as a starter on the 4th, but Hanwha decided to give Moon Dong-joo a break and release Ponce.
"Moon Kim Dae-jeon" has been postponed to the next time, but the face-off between foreign aces has appeased baseball fans' disappointment.
Ponce and Nail are competing for the best foreign pitcher position this season.
Ponce has won five games without losing in seven games this season, with a 1.96 ERA.
Above all, he is showing off his amazing strikeout ability with fast fastballs in the late 150km/h range. He has 61 strikeouts during 46 innings, leading the way in this category.
He struck out more than 10 in the match against the Lotte Giants (10) in Daejeon on the 3rd, the match against the Incheon SSG Landers (12) on the 15th, and the match against the NC Dinos (13) on the 20th.
He has displayed impressive pitching pace recently. He pitched seven scoreless innings in succession at the match against SSG on April 15, the match against NC on April 20, and the match against KT Wiz in Daejeon on April 27.
Hanwha has recently been on the rise with "starter baseball," but Ponce has taken the center stage.
Nail, who took the lead in KIA's integrated victory with 12 wins, 5 losses and a 2.53 ERA in 26 games last year, is showing off her more powerful appearance by further honing her main weapons, sweeper and two-seam fastballs this year. 스포츠토토
Nail pitched 42 ⅔ innings in seven games, winning two games and posting an earned run average of 1.05. She ranks first in earned run average (ERA).
Nail, who recorded only one earned run in 20 innings in three games against the Gwangju Samsung Lions (7 scoreless innings) on the 3rd, the Sajik Lotte Giants on the 9th, and the Gwangju KT Wiz on the 15th (6 scoreless innings), had an ERA of 0.29 for the season.
Since then, he has failed to maintain his 0-point season ERA by allowing two runs in five ⅔ innings and two runs in six innings, respectively, against the Doosan Bears in Jamsil and the LG Twins in Gwangju on April 20, but it is still surprising.
Ponce and Nail also faced off as starters in Daejeon on March 28.
At that time, Ponce became the winning pitcher with seven hits (one homer), eight strikeouts, one walk, and two runs in seven innings. Nail pitched well in six innings with three hits, five strikeouts, two walks, and no runs, but the victory was thrown away as the bullpen shook.
As Ponce has been showing his presence over the season, the confrontation between the two is drawing more attention than in March.
While the Hanwha Eagles have won five consecutive games recently, the Kia Tigers have lost two consecutive games, which weighs on Nail. Nail will try to win the game for the first time in 25 days since the game against Lotte on April 9 at the same time as her team's successive losses. Ponce aims to win five consecutive games individually.