After overpowering opponents across two minor-league levels this year, Canadian right-hander Jonah Tong looked like he belonged in his major league debut with the New York Mets on Friday.
The Markham, Ont., native cruised through his first four innings before facing turbulence in the fifth. Ultimately, Tong allowed only one earned run, striking out six while walking none over five innings, but another three unearned runs came around to score.
“Insane, that’s everything I’ve ever dreamed of as a kid growing up,” Tong said after the game.
The 22-year-old started his big-league career with a 1-2-3 inning, setting down the top of the Marlins order with three soft-contact outs on only six pitches. The Marlins’ No. 2 and 3 hitters, rookie standouts Jakob Marsee and Augustín Ramírez, each flew out on first-pitch fastballs pumped right down the middle to end the first.
Tong threw 97 pitches, inducing seven whiffs and getting 17 called strikes. His four-seam fastball maxed-out at 97.7 m.p.h.
There was no shortage of run support for Tong, who was swiftly staked to a 12-0 Mets lead through two innings thanks in part to homers by Juan Soto, Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso.
This was more the enough cushion for Tong to earn his first big-league win as the Mets came out on top in the 19-9 slugfest.
“I’m never going to complain about run support and that was insane but I just made pitches on my part,” Tong said.
The first MLB hit allowed by Tong went to fellow countryman Otto Lopez, who snuck a 1-1 changeup into left for a ground-ball double.
Tong struck out a minor-league best 179 hitters this season, posting a 40.5 per cent strikeout rate over 113.2 innings.
Despite his penchant for swing-and-miss, Tong’s first major-league strikeout didn’t come until the third inning when he got Joey Wiemer on three pitches.
Tong managed to get out of a jam unscathed in the third inning – with runners on second and third and one out – by striking out Marsee and inducing a ground-out from Ramírez.
After Troy Johnston hit a soft line-drive single to centre in the fifth, Tong threw a wild pitch advancing him to second. Eric Wagaman then drilled a ground ball through the infield to cash in the Marlins’ first run of the game. Three additional unearned Miami runs came around to score in the inning after consecutive errors by Francisco Lindor and Alonso, and another Lopez hit.
Toronto-born catcher Liam Hicks was caught looking at a called third strike to complete Tong’s debut.
Tong was selected in the seventh round of the 2022 draft and quickly rose three levels in 2024, from low-A St. Lucie to double-A Binghamton. MLB Pipeline’s 44th-ranked prospect, Tong pitched 11.2 shutout innings over only two triple-A outings, striking out 17 and walking three, before being called up to the majors.
from Sportsnet.ca
via
i9bet
