Jonah Tong never endured any trouble with the long ball during his rapid rise through the minor leagues. Before the Mets promoted the budding right-hander early last week, he'd allowed just a pair of home runs across 113.2 innings between the Double-A and Triple-A levels.
The trend of Tong keeping balls from flying over the outfield walls continued in his first big league start just seven days ago, but that groove didn't survive his second outing. He was susceptible to the homer on Saturday night, as he allowed a season-high three in the Mets' 6-3 road loss to the Reds.
While the three mistake pitches inflicted enough damage, Tong looked unfazed. He completed six innings for the first time in the majors, striking out six (96 total pitches) with heavy use of his fastball. But he also walked four — that mark was zero in his Aug. 29 debut against the Marlins.
"There were some situations where I didn't execute," Tong said after the game. "I didn't really have my off-speed or the aim and sort of found it late, but I tried to compete the best I could. They're good hitters, they're going to be able to hit pitches…
"I've been in these situations before. I've had outings like this. It's another day… I just need to do a better job of mixing off-speed for strikes and being unpredictable… I think it's just execution on my end."
The first of three homers allowed by Tong occurred in the second inning, and unfortuantely with two outs. Ahead in the count 0-1 with a runner on first, he threw an upper-middle fastball to Reds rookie Sal Stewart that was smacked to dead center for a two-run blast.
Tong then served up a pair of leadoff homers — one to Matt McLain in the third and one to Austin Hays in the fourth — that provided the Reds with a little more breathing room. Overall, the 22-year-old showed composure and gave up only three hits. They just happened to be the worst kind.
In his scoreless nine-pitch first inning, Tong attacked with his upper-90s four-seamer, throwing it eight times as a clear message. But it didn't take long for the Reds to prove they could sit back on the heat and make solid contact. All three homers came on the fastball.
"I think there's a lot of positives from this outing," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said of Tong. "He had a hard time landing the fastball and changeup early on, but settled in nicely. The curveball was better as the game went on. And for him to give us six innings, there's a lot of positive.
"He made some adjustments with the pitch mix, but they did a good job and got him with the fastball at the top of the zone, which makes him who he is… They had a good approach… He gets away with those pitches at the minor league level."
Call it a valuable learning moment for the highly-touted rookie, whose brief time logged with the Mets already matches his entire Triple-A experience — a whopping two starts. Tong is lined up to make his third MLB appearance next Friday, in a home meeting with the Rangers.
And if the game wasn't already circled on fans' calendars, the opposing pitcher will likely be veteran Jacob deGrom, slated to make his first start at Citi Field since Sept. 2022.
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