Eagles turn to ace Ponce trying to climb out of Korean Series hole

Hanwha Eagles starter Cody Ponce pitches against the Samsung Lions during Game 5 of the second-round series in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark in the central city of Daejeon, Oct. 24. Yonhap

Having dropped the first two games of the Korean Series against the LG Twins, the Hanwha Eagles will start their ace Cody Ponce in Game 3 at home on Wednesday.

The Twins will counter with homegrown left-hander Son Ju-young as they try to take a stranglehold of the best-of-seven Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) championship series.

The teams announced their starting pitchers Tuesday morning, with Game 3 set for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark in the central city of Daejeon. The Twins won both of their games at home, Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, opening the series with an 8-2 victory on Sunday and following it up with a 13-5 beatdown on Monday.

Only twice out of 21 times has a team rallied from a 2-0 hole to win the Korean Series. The Eagles will try to avoid going down 3-0, a deficit that no team has overcome in 12 previous tries.

Ponce was not available for either of the first two games of this series because he had pitched the deciding Game 5 of the previous round against the Samsung Lions last Friday.

He will go on four days' rest after throwing 82 pitches that day. He posted a 3.71 ERA in three regular-season starts he made after four days off — compared to a 2.06 ERA on five days' rest and 1.01 ERA on six or more days of rest.

Ponce was the Triple Crown winner in the regular season with 17 wins, 252 strikeouts and a 1.89 ERA. But he had a 3.46 ERA in two starts versus the Twins, higher than against any other opponent. The Twins were also the only team against whom Ponce did not record a victory.

Kim Hyun-soo batted 3-for-6 with a home run and a double against Ponce. Moon Bo-gyeong was held hitless in five at-bats against the right-hander in the regular season but Moon is now the hottest hitter of the Korean Series. He has gone 6-for-9 with a home run and two doubles, for an eye-popping slugging percentage of 1.222.

Son Ju-young will make his second career postseason start. The 26-year-old is fresh off his best regular season, as he set career bests with 11 wins, a 3.41 ERA, 153 innings pitched and 132 strikeouts. He had a breakout campaign in 2024 and then had a star turn as an all-purpose swingman during the postseason later in the year.

He had a 1-0 record with a 1.38 ERA against the Eagles this year — holding them to one earned run in seven innings on May 29 and also to one earned run over six innings on Aug. 10. Son only allowed two extra-base hits in those two starts.

Son is starting ahead of Yonny Chirinos, who was scratched from Game 2 start on Monday with a spasm on his side. The Twins had hoped that Chirinos would be available for Game 3 but decided to push him back by at least another day.