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Jonah Tong surrenders three home runs as Mets lose to Reds, 6-3

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Jonah Tong surrenders three home runs as Mets lose to Reds, 6-3

The Mets lost on Saturday night against the Cincinnati Reds, 6-3, to even up the series. They'll go for the series win in Sunday's rubber game.

Here are the takeaways…

–Jonah Tong was on the mound making his second career start, and after impressing in five innings at Citi Field in his debut, the young right-hander had a little more trouble in his first road start.

Pitching at hitter's haven Great American Ballpark, Tong surrendered three home runs — highly unusual for the 22-year-old, who was exceptional at keeping the ball in the yard and allowed just two home runs in the minors this season.

The first of the three home runs did the most damage and came in the second inning. After retiring the side in order on six pitches in the opening frame and getting the first two outs in the second, Tong issued a walk to Spencer Steer before fellow rookie Sal Stewart clubbed his first major league home run to give Cincinnati a 2-0 lead. Both the walk and home run were the first allowed by Tong in his brief big league career.

Matt McLain and Austin Hays then each tagged Tong for solo shots leading off the third and fourth innings. 

-But Tong settled down from there and didn't allow another hit for the rest of his outing, although he did walk two more to give him four on the night as he battled with his command. Nevertheless, the right-hander still showed off his nasty stuff and struck out six batters through six innings. 

-He also showed some passion and moxie walking back to the dugout after the fifth inning and demonstratively conveyed to manager Carlos Mendoza that he wasn't ready to exit the game. At just 82 pitches through five, Mendoza sent Tong back out and the youngster rewarded his manager with a 1-2-3 inning that included striking out the final batter he faced.

Overall, Tong's final line: 6 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 6 K, 3 HR on 96 pitches (57 strikes). Despite the gutsy performance, his ERA rose to 4.09.

-Offensively, the Mets had trouble against Reds starter Brady Singer, who allowed one run over six innings. However, the biggest hurdle came on the bases, specifically with Francisco Lindor. 

After reaching base in his first three plate appearances on a single, walk and a double to extend his on-base streak to a career-high 10 consecutive plate appearances, Lindor was erased twice after getting caught trying to steal. The first caught stealing came after he left first base too early, which allowed Singer to pick him off. The second was far more puzzling, as Lindor was caught trying to steal third base with one out and Juan Soto up and New York down 4-1. 

Otherwise, Lindor had a phenomenal night at the plate, going 3-for-4 with two doubles and a walk. A groundout in the seventh ended his consecutive on-base streak, but his one-out double in the ninth began a new one.

Soto also had a good night, finishing 2-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base.

-The Mets scored their runs on a sacrifice fly by Brandon Nimmo in the third and a pinch-hit solo home run by Jared Young in the seventh. A third run came across to score in the ninth on a wild pitch.

-After entering and escaping trouble on Friday night, Ryne Stanek came into a clean inning in this one and struggled. He managed to get just one out and allowed two runs on three hits and a walk. His ERA now sits at 5.44.

Game MVP: Brady Singer

The right-hander managed to quiet a hot Mets offense and earned his 13th win of the season.

Highlights

What's next

The Mets finish out their three-game series in Cincinnati on Sunday with a 1:40 p.m. start time on PIX11.

RHP Brandon Sproat makes his MLB debut while the Reds send out RHP Hunter Greene (5-4, 2.70 ERA).



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