CINCINNATI — The Mets knew their rookie pitchers would get examined this month. The primary check for Jonah Tong got here Friday night time in his second huge league begin.
Within the thick of a playoff race, the Cincinnati Reds let the Mets and rookie righty Jonah Tong know that they aren’t taking place with out a struggle. The Reds crushed three residence runs off Tong to take the second recreation of a three-game set, 6-2, at Nice American Ballpark.
The San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks have leapfrogged the Reds (71-71) within the NL Wild Card standings, however the Mets (76-66) nonetheless have a lead over each groups, all three opponents by a minimum of three video games, and path the San Diego Padres by 0.5 video games. Ought to the Mets win tomorrow, they’d break up the season collection with Cincinnati, making their quest for a Wild Card spot much more daunting.
Tong, all of twenty-two years previous with solely three begins above Double-A underneath his belt, dealt with the check effectively regardless of taking the loss (1-1). He scattered 4 earned runs over six innings and struck out six, giving the Mets among the size they’ve desperately been needing. However 4 walks acquired him into bother, particularly within the backside of the second.
“I think there’s a lot of positives from these outings,” mentioned supervisor 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 solely two residence runs within the minor leagues this season, so three in a single recreation was way over he was used to.
“They’re good hitters,” he mentioned, clearly nonetheless pissed off after his outing.
With two outs, he walked Spencer Steer, then threw a excessive fastball to rookie third baseman Sal Stewart, who drove it over the middle discipline fence, simply out of attain of Cedric Mullins for his first profession homer. The 2-run blast put Cincinnati up 2-0.
The Mets acquired one again within the third to chop the lead in half, however Tong threw two extra fastballs up within the zone: One to Matt McLain, and one to Austin Hays, who each despatched them over the fences to steer off the third and fourth innings with residence runs.
The elevated fastball is Tong’s calling card, which pressured him to transform his pitch combine and begin throwing extra curveballs.
“I needed a better job mixing my pitches for strikes and being unpredictable,” he mentioned.
He recovered, retiring the facet so as within the fifth and sixth to finish his inning. Nonetheless, the harm was performed, which is what occurs when the one three hits you surrender are residence runs. Taking accountability for his outing exhibits maturity, however there’s additionally a lesson to be taken from this one as effectively: The hitters at baseball’s highest stage are of a better caliber than those he’s used to dealing with within the minor leagues.
“He gets away with those pitches at the minor league level,” Mendoza mentioned. “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. Proper-hander Brady Singer (restricted the Mets to only one earned run on 4 hits. He walked 4 and hit one batter, giving the Mets probabilities to do harm throughout his six-inning outing, but he managed to get out of bother each time he had visitors on the basepaths.
Singer struck out 5 within the win (13-9).
“We couldn’t square up Singer up today,” Mendoza mentioned. “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 Younger pinch-hit a house run to steer off the seventh inning, pulling the Mets to inside two runs, 4-2. Within the backside of the inning, right-hander Ryne Stanek snapped his streak of six scoreless innings when he loaded the bases with one out earlier than giving up a two-run single to TJ Friedl.
Within the prime of the eighth, the Mets put two on with two outs. Francisco Alvarez struck out to finish the inning and finish the scoring menace. Once more within the ninth, they’d two runners on, this time with just one out. They acquired one run out of it when a wild pitch by right-hander Emilio Pagan scored Francisco Lindor from third, however the nearer struck out Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso to safe the win.
It wasn’t the very best recreation of the season, but it surely wasn’t the worst. After months of dramatic wins and gut-wrenching losses, a comparatively uneventful loss virtually fails to even register.
Initially Printed: September 6, 2025 at 9:25 PM EDT
