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Battle of aces in opening game of KBO postseason series

Published: 16 Oct. 2025, 10:38 Updated: 16 Oct. 2025, 18:10

Hanwha Eagles pitcher Cody Ponce reacts during a KBO game against the SSG Landers at Incheon SSG Landers Field in Incheon on Oct. 1. [YONHAP]

The Hanwha Eagles will open their first KBO postseason series in seven years with their Triple Crown winner Cody Ponce on the hill on Friday.

Their opponents for the best-of-five series, the Samsung Lions, will counter with their key midseason pickup, Gerson Garabito.

Game 1 of the second round of the postseason starts at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark in Daejeon.

Ponce is a strong regular-season MVP candidate after winning the Triple Crown in his first KBO season. The right-hander led the league with 17 wins, a 1.89 ERA and a league-record 252 strikeouts. Ponce also lost just one game and set the record for the longest winning streak by a pitcher from the start of a season with 17.

Though Ponce wasn't nearly as dominant in the August-September period as he had been earlier in the year, he has had more than two weeks off to rest and regroup for this series, with the Eagles earning a bye to this series as No. 2 seed.

Ponce faced the Lions just once during the regular season, on July 30, and he held them to six hits — all singles — over six scoreless innings while striking out eight and walking one.

Kim Seong-yoon, the pesky No. 2 hitter for the Lions, was the only Lion to get multiple hits off Ponce.

Ponce will also have to contend with Lewin Diaz, who led the regular season with 50 home runs and a league-record 158 RBIs, and earned the series MVP award in the first round by driving in six runs in a four-game victory over the SSG Landers. Diaz decided the series by launching a go-ahead, two-run home run in the eighth inning of Game 4 on Tuesday.

Garabito joined the Lions in June to replace Denyi Reyes in the rotation. In 15 starts, the right-hander went 4-4 with a 2.64 ERA, and he struck out 84 in 78 1/3 innings.

Samsung Lions pitcher Gerson Garabito pitches during Game 2 of the first round of the playoffs against the SSG Landers at Incheon SSG Landers Field in Incheon on Oct. 11. [YONHAP]

He threw two scoreless outings against the Eagles during the regular season. He held them to one hit over five shutout innings in his KBO debut on June 26, and then scattered five singles over six scoreless frames against the same team on July 29.

Roh Si-hwan, who led the Eagles with career highs of 32 home runs and 101 RBIs, was the only Eagle with more than one hit off Garabito in those two games combined.

As the No. 2 seed, the Eagles will enjoy home field advantage. They will also host Game 2, which starts at 2 p.m. Saturday in Daejeon, before the series shifts to the Lions' home in Daegu for Game 3 at 6:30 p.m. Monday and, if necessary, Game 4 at 6:40 p.m. Tuesday.

Should the series go the distance, the Eagles will host that deciding game at 6:30 p.m. next Thursday.

Yonhap