RHP Cody Ponce carted off in third inning of Blue Jays debut

TORONTO — Blue Jays right-hander Cody Ponce was carted off the field in the third inning of his first big league appearance since 2021 after he injured his right knee while trying to make a play on a ground ball.

Ponce stumbled while chasing Jake McCarthy’s infield grounder and went down in the dirt behind first base. He got to his feet but left on a cart, briefly covering his face with his cap. The Blue Jays said Ponce was removed because of right knee discomfort.

“He kind of felt it hyperextend a little bit, that’s what he told me on the field,” manager John Schneider said. “We’ve got to wait for the MRI results, hoping for the best.”

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Colorado’s Kyle Karros scored from third on the play to give the Rockies a 1-0 lead en route to a 14-5 win, their first of the season.

Earlier in the at-bat against McCarthy, Ponce caught his foot on the mound and fell down without throwing a pitch.

“He assured us he was good,” Schneider said of Ponce’s reaction to the initial slip. “He was laughing.”

Ponce struck out three and walked one in 2⅓ innings before exiting, allowing one run and one hit. Thirty of his 47 pitches were strikes.

“We liked what we saw,” Schneider said. “Just unfortunate that the outing was cut short.”

Louis Varland came on for Ponce, who signed a three-year, $30 million contract with the defending AL champion Blue Jays last December.

Ponce went 17-1 with a 1.89 ERA for the Hanwha Eagles in South Korea last season, winning the league’s MVP and the pitching triple crown. Ponce was selected by Milwaukee in the second round of the 2015 amateur draft and was dealt to Pittsburgh for right-hander Jordan Lyles ahead of the 2019 trade deadline.

Ponce was 1-7 with a 5.86 ERA over five starts and 15 relief appearances for the Pirates in 2020 and ’21, then pitched in Japan for the Pacific League’s Nippon Ham Fighters (2022-23) and the Rakuten Golden Eagles (2024).