TORONTO (AP) — Toronto right-hander Cody Ponce had to be carted off the field in the third inning of his Blue Jays debut after he appeared to injure 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 was able to get 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.
Colorado’s Kyle Karros scored from third on the play to give the Rockies a 1-0 lead.
Earlier in the at bat against McCarthy, Ponce caught his foot on the mound and fell down without throwing a pitch.
Ponce struck out three and walked one in 2 1/3 innings before exiting, allowing one run and one hit. Thirty of his 47 pitches were strikes.
Louis Varland came on for Ponce, who signed a $30 million, three-year 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).
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