CINCINNATI — The Mets knew their rookie pitchers would get tested this month. The first test for Jonah Tong came Friday night in his second big league start.
In the thick of a playoff race, the Cincinnati Reds let the Mets and rookie righty Jonah Tong know that they aren’t going down without a fight. The Reds crushed three home runs off Tong to take the second game of a three-game set, 6-2, at Great American Ballpark.
The San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks have leapfrogged the Reds (71-71) in the NL Wild Card standings, but the Mets (76-66) still have a lead over both teams, all three opponents by at least three games, and trail the San Diego Padres by 0.5 games. Should the Mets win tomorrow, they’d split the season series with Cincinnati, making their quest for a Wild Card spot even more daunting.
Tong, all of 22 years old with only three starts above Double-A under his belt, handled the test well despite taking the loss (1-1). He scattered four earned runs over six innings and struck out six, giving the Mets some of the length they’ve desperately been needing. But four walks got him into trouble, especially in the bottom of the second.
“I think there’s a lot of positives from these outings,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “He had a few walks and had a hard time landing the fastball and the changeup early on, but he said it really nicely. I thought the curveball was better as the game went on.”
Tong allowed only two home runs in the minor leagues this season, so three in one game was far more than he was used to.
“They’re good hitters,” he said, clearly still frustrated after his outing.
With two outs, he walked Spencer Steer, then threw a high fastball to rookie third baseman Sal Stewart, who drove it over the center field fence, just out of reach of Cedric Mullins for his first career homer. The two-run blast put Cincinnati up 2-0.
The Mets got one back in the third to cut the lead in half, but Tong threw two more fastballs up in the zone: One to Matt McLain, and one to Austin Hays, who both sent them over the fences to lead off the third and fourth innings with home runs.
The elevated fastball is Tong’s calling card, which forced him to rework his pitch mix and start throwing more curveballs.
“I needed a better job mixing my pitches for strikes and being unpredictable,” he said.
He recovered, retiring the side in order in the fifth and sixth to end his inning. Still, the damage was done, which is what happens when the only three hits you give up are home runs. Taking accountability for his outing shows maturity, but there is also a lesson to be taken from this one as well: The hitters at baseball’s highest level are of a higher caliber than the ones he’s used to facing in the minor leagues.
“He gets away with those pitches at the minor league level,” Mendoza said. “Whether the hitters foul them off or there’s some pop-ups. Here, you’re facing a lot better competition. But I think he made a good adjustment in recognizing that. The curveball, like I said, is a pitch that he could start using a lot more.”
The offense didn’t do him many favors. Right-hander Brady Singer (limited the Mets to just one earned run on four hits. He walked four and hit one batter, giving the Mets chances to do damage during his six-inning outing, yet he managed to get out of trouble every time he had traffic on the basepaths.
Singer struck out five in the win (13-9).
“We couldn’t square up Singer up today,” Mendoza said. “We created traffic there, got the bases loaded, but overall, he moved the ball around, which is what he does — especially with the sinker, the slider and sweeper. He threw a few cutters, but we couldn’t do much off of him.”
Jared Young pinch-hit a home run to lead off the seventh inning, pulling the Mets to within two runs, 4-2. In the bottom of the inning, right-hander Ryne Stanek snapped his streak of six scoreless innings when he loaded the bases with one out before giving up a two-run single to TJ Friedl.
In the top of the eighth, the Mets put two on with two outs. Francisco Alvarez struck out to end the inning and end the scoring threat. Again in the ninth, they had two runners on, this time with only one out. They got one run out of it when a wild pitch by right-hander Emilio Pagan scored Francisco Lindor from third, but the closer struck out Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso to secure the win.
It wasn’t the best game of the season, but it wasn’t the worst. After months of dramatic wins and gut-wrenching losses, a relatively uneventful loss almost fails to even register.
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