After allowing just one run across his two previous outings combined, Mets right-hander Jonah Tong had a tough night on Tuesday against the Seattle Mariners.
The 22-year-old entered in the second inning and allowed five runs (four earned) over 3.1 IP, with three coming on a home run in the fifth inning to Jhonny Pereda that blew the game open, 7-2. Following the loss, Tong acknowledged his fastball wasn’t working against the Mariners’ bats and struggled after a solid first inning on the mound, knowing he needs to be more consistent.
“I obviously didn’t have my fastball command for most of the game, so moving forward that’s the definitely be the thing I’ll focus on the next few games, weeks,” Tong said. “Just getting that dialed back in and I’m more than confident it’ll rebound right out of it really nicely.”
He added on his overall performance: “Strong first little inning and then felt like I found my delivery and my stuff towards the end. Obviously it just boils down to that second and third up. I just got to do a better job.”
While acknowledging the defensive errors that occurred, manager Carlos Mendoza pointed to Tong’s issues throwing strikes and getting ahead in counts as the main reasons for the poor outing. In total, Tong threw 83 pitches, but only 54 were for strikes. He used his fastball 35 times (42 percent of pitches), but only had three whiffs on 16 swings and four called strikes.
“Having a hard time throwing strikes, that’s where it starts,” Mendoza said. “His ability to get strike one was below average today. And then deep counts, three-ball counts. Again, we don’t make a couple of plays behind him and it cost him. But I think it’s just like I said before the game, his ability to compete in the strike zone, and right now he’s not doing it.”
Like Mendoza mentioned, Tong did have to work around two errors in the third inning by Marcus Semien and Mark Vientos that forced him to throw 27 pitches in the frame. After a long time on the mound like that, Tong said he needs to “find a way” to push through when heading back out there again quickly like he did.
“You just got to calm yourself down after that,” Tong said. “There’s a lot of pitches thrown a couple times throughout that inning, just got to find a way to settle down after. Just got to find a way. Right, at the end of the day, that’s out of my control in a lot of cases and that’s the reality we’re in so I got to find a way.”
The home run pitch to Pereda came on cutter, which is something he’s worked into his arsenal this year. He knows the pitch needs to improve, especially in big moments like Tuesday night.
“Part of it is just gonna be you’re gonna have some really good ones and you’re just gonna have one that gets away from you. And unfortunately had to be that one,” Tong said. “But again, I have to do a better job with that pitch. That’s plain and simple there.”
Tong’s future as the team’s bulk pitcher after an opener next time through the rotation is still up in the air, as they’ll need him to improve if he gets another chance. For now, New York will look to avoid a sweep on Wednesday afternoon against the Mariners.
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