Mets’ Jonah Tong delivers ‘very encouraging’ season debut despite loss to Marlins
He entered Friday’s game maybe a little later than fans expected, but Mets right-hander Jonah Tong looked fantastic in his season debut against the Miami Marlins. Tong, promoted on Friday morning with the expectation of pitching at some point during the weekend series in Miami, finished the series opener by going three scoreless innings and facing the minimum while striking out two. In a game in which New York’s pitching shined with the offense letting the team down , Tong looked the most impressive on the mound in his first MLB outing since his cup of coffee with the Mets at the end of last season.
“Great,” Tong said about being back with the big league club. “It was awesome to be out there with the boys again. ” There’s no doubt that Tong has the potential to be a special pitcher for the Mets, but after his promotion last year which followed his meteoric rise through the minor league system and ended with him making five starts for New York and pitching to a 7.
71 ERA (1. 77 WHIP), it’s good to see the 22-year-old return with a flourish. In fact, not only did Tong struggle at times in his first taste at the big league level, he had a 5.
68 ERA this season in nine starts at Triple-A. “Very encouraging,” said manager Carlos Mendoza about Tong’s outing. “The velo, the fastball, the way that it was playing.
The changeup was good, he attacked, the curveball. He gave us a chance. ” In the end, the Mets lost 2-1 after their offense, outside of Juan Soto , couldn’t muster much of anything.