What's wrong with Ponce? Ball ball ball ball ball ball ball → Embarrassed 2 innings, 4 walks and no runs

*This content was translated by AI.

Cody Ponce (32, Toronto Blue Jays), a former Hanwha Eagles player, continued to score no points in exhibition games despite his poor control of the ball.

Ponce started against the Minnesota Twins in the 2026 Major League exhibition game at TD Ball Park in Dunedin, Florida on the 14th (Korea time) and led Toronto to a 6-1 victory with two hits, four walks and two strikeouts in two innings.

He continued pitching scoreless on the same day in the previous game, lowering his ERA from 1.50 to 1.13. The average fastball speed was good at 96.3 miles per hour (about 154.7 kilometers).

However, the game was not very good. The ball flew from Alan Roden's at-bat in the top of the first inning. Rhoden took a straight hit to second base, but he rarely struck and walked Brooks Lee. Matt Wallner was on the verge of second and third base due to a hit to the right and an error. Eric Wagaman kept throwing balls at him, pushing him to 3B0S. Fortunately, he seemed to overcome the crisis by throwing fastball in succession to strike out swinging.

But once again, my control shook. Ponce threw a fastball, slider, and splitter against James Outman to try to attract a swing and miss, but he gave another walk.

At that time, Toronto raised left-hander Michael Plasmeier against Ryan Kreidler to prevent a run. Plasmaire saved Ponce from the crisis of losing a large amount of points by throwing a cutter low on the body and catching an out count in one pitch.

In accordance with the rules of the exhibition game, Ponce took the mound again in the top of the second inning. But it was still the same that the zero was shaking. Ponce held up to two strikes well against leadoff hitter Tristan Gray, but failed to draw a swing and miss, allowing a walk.

Gio Urshela threw a series of fastballs to draw a double play with a ground ball to second base. However, he gave Alex Jackson a straight walk and increased the number of pitches on his own. Roden struck out with a pitch over the strike borderline.

Ponce, who also took the mound in the third inning, continued to struggle. After leading hitter Brooks Lee continued to clear the ball, he retired with a fly ball to first base in the eighth pitch. Wallner hit a ground-recognition double on the ball count in favor of 3B1S.

So much for Ponce. On this day, Ponce threw a total of 59 pitches, including 27 fastball, 14 cutters, 8 sliders, 6 splitters and 4 curves, drawing six swings and misses.

Meanwhile, Toronto helped the mound by scoring points in the right place. In the bottom of the first inning, leadoff hitter George Springer walked and Dalton Basho scored the first run with a superior two-run shot.

In the fifth inning, Carlos Mendoza walked with one out and Springer got on base with a fielder's choice, and Basho hit another mid-wall three-run to make it 5-0. He remained aggressive in the seventh inning when he replaced a large number of key players. With two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, Iloy Jimenez hit a solo shot to right-center to score the last score.

Toronto's winning pitcher went to Plasmeyer, who successfully finished the run crisis with one ball, not Ponce, who pitched two innings.

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*This content was translated by AI.