Tong Terrific

Jonah Tong had the best start of his MLB career and Brandon Nimmo slugged a three-run homer as the Mets finally won a series by defeating the Padres 6-1.

King Tong had trouble in the first inning again, but it played out very differently compared to last time. Luis Arraez singled with one out. Manny Machado hit a ball over left fielder Nimmo’s head. Machado figures Arraez was going to try and score and/or felt like he can run on Nimmo’s noodle arm, so he tried to stretch his single into a double. Unfortunately for him, Arraez was not attempting to score and Nimmo threw it to the cutoff man Francisco Lindor, who fired to Jeff McNeil at second to easily nab Machado. Tong fanned Jackson Merrill to end the inning. 

In the bottom half of the frame, Pete Alonso hit a homer for the fourth consecutive game (he hits ‘em in bunches) off of Randy Vázquez. 

The Padres tied it in the third thanks to an unearned run. Fernando Tatis Jr. singled with one out. He advanced to second when Tong made an errant pickoff attempt, then reached third on a wild pitch. Arraez hit a shallow fly to left, but Tatis Jr. is an aggressive baserunner and Nimmo has a strand of spaghetti for a wing, so he scored. 

The Mets pounced in the bottom half of the third. Cedric Mullins and Lindor both singled. Juan Soto grounded out to second to score Mullins. It was Soto’s 100th RBI of the season. Alonso walked. The Padres dipped into their bullpen super early and brought in the lefty Wandy Peralta to face Nimmo. Nimmo took Peralta deep to right center, scoring Lindor, Alonso, and himself. 5-1 Mets. 

Tong settled in, retiring his last eight batters. He struck out five of those eight. (Nimmo after the game said Tong “chewed on that chicklet”, whatever that means.)  He became the first Mets pitcher age 22 or younger to record eight strikeouts in a start since Noah Syndergaard in 2015. Tong used his four-seamer a lot more than last time, and he was successful in doing so. After his day was done, the Mets bullpen did a great job. Both Tyler Rogers and Brooks Raley threw 1-2-3 innings. Gregory Soto survived two infield hits that both ricocheted off of him to pitch a scoreless eighth. Edwin Díaz tossed a 1-2-3 ninth with two punchies. 

A banner day for Mets pitching. A good Jonah Tong is a happy Jonah Tong which leads to a happy Mets team, not to mention a happy Mets fanbase.

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The Reds’ Hunter Greene one-hit the Cubs in Chicago’s hangover game. The Giants lost to the Dodgers. They’re three games behind the Mets and don’t have the tiebreaker, so it’s looking grim for them. All the projections seem to think the Cardinals are donezo. So it comes down to the Diamondbacks, Reds, and Mets really. Unfortunately, the Mets don’t have the tiebreaker against either.

Ron Darling said on the SNY broadcast that Jeff McNeil looks fatigued, on account of playing center field and facing all those tough Phillies lefties recently. 

Steve Gelbs reported that immediately after Jonah Tong’s putrid start last Friday, Sean Manaea sat down next to him in the dugout. Manaea asked Tong what he was thinking. Tong “vomited” out everything that went wrong for him. Manaea then pointed at Jacob deGrom and said that bad starts have happened to everyone, even him, and to “keep doing what you’re doing.” Add Manaea to the list of leaders in the Mets clubhouse.

The Mets made a slew of roster moves regarding their bullpen. Most notably, Reed Garrett was put on the 15-day IL again - retroactive to the 15th -  with a right elbow sprain. Carlos Mendoza said it was a “concerning” injury. No matter the severity, Garrett is done for the regular season at the very least. The reliever had two good appearances and two bad ones since he was activated from the IL roughly two weeks ago. 

Sean Manaea was placed on the paternity list, putting the Clay Holmes/Manaea piggybacking sequel in question for Sunday. Dom Hamel was DFA’d. Wander Suero, Chris Devenski, and Huascar Brazobán were all called back up to the bigs. 

Mendoza wouldn’t guarantee that Kodai Senga would have a spot on the postseason roster, and this was before he had a subpar start in Triple-A last night. I suppose that’s fair. Senga is someone I don’t imagine you can put in the bullpen because he’s a big creature of habit, so the flexibility isn’t there. 

Juan Soto recorded his 100th RBI of the season, making him just the third player ever to have 40+ homers, 30+ stolen bases, 100+ RBI, and 100+ walks in the same season. He has come a very long way since May, wouldn’t you say?

Jon Heyman had the temerity to ask some Mets if they thought the team deserved to make the playoffs (they all said yes.)

Keith Law at The Athletic named Jonah Tong the Minor League Pitcher of the Year.

Brandon Nimmo quoted Wayne Gretzky, Michael Scott, and/or himself. 

With the $2 million grant from the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation, the International Women’s Baseball Center (IWBC) is proceeding with phase one of a renovation of Beyer Stadium, the former home of the Rockford Peaches. The goal is to build a functioning field as well as a museum. 

The Triple-A Syracuse Mets (75-72) lost to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Phillies affiliate) by a score of 8-2. Kodai Senga’s second Syracuse start was not nearly as good as his first. In three and two thirds innings he gave up four earned runs on six hits while walking two and striking out four. He also hit a batter and uncorked a wild pitch. 46 of his 81 pitches were for strikes. DH Jared Young went yard in a losing cause.

In front of a loud crowd at Mirabito Stadium, the Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies almost blew a 5-0 lead but held on to beat the Somerset Patriots (Yankees) 5-4 to advance to the Eastern League Championship Series! RHP Jack Wenninger was outstanding, tossing six shutout innings while allowing just one hit. He walked one and struck out nine. CF AJ Ewing went 2 for 4 with a triple, a run scored, two RBI and a strikeout.

Three years ago today, the Mets clinched their first postseason berth since 2016 when Max Scherzer returned from the IL to throw six perfect innings in Milwaukee. 

Tonight the Mets begin a series with the Nationals. Rookie LHP Andrew Alvarez (1-0, 1.15 ERA) will take the ball for Washington. New York (NL) will counter with RHP Brandon Sproat the GOAT (0-1, 2.25 ERA), First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 pm eastern. The game will air on SNY.