One night after David Peterson's poor outing saw him fail to get out of the second inning, the Mets needed some length from Wednesday night's starterJonah Tong. Unfortunately, the young right-hander failed to record an out in the third as he surrendered five runs in that frame in a 10-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs.
“We’ll piece it together. We’ll continue to find ways to get 27 outs, and get the wins that we need here,” manager Carlos Mendoza said when asked about his side’s plans for the season’s final four games as they cling to the final NL Wild Card spot. “It’s not easy, especially what’s happened the last couple of days, even after an off day [Monday].”
With Huascar Brazobán, Tyler Rogers, and Edwin Diaz unavailable out of the beleaguered bullpen, part of that piece work from the skipper came in the form of using Clay Holmes and Sean Manaea for an inning each, as they worked on two days' rest after throwing 57 and 50 pitches respectively on Sunday.
“It was their bullpen day, pretty much, and they volunteered yesterday,” Mendoza said. “Like, ‘Hey, if you guys need us.’ You appreciate that; it says a lot about them. And here we were today needing them. And instead of throwing that bullpen, they ended up throwing in the game.
“But this is something that’s gonna be day-to-day. Whether they’re starting, whether we need them out of the bullpen. We’re gonna try and put our best guys there to get 27 outs.”
Their short outings – Holmes throwing 14 pitches and Manaea 16 – still have the duo in line to be available on Saturday, “at the earliest,” Mendoza said.
The trouble began for Tong immediately as he put the first two runners on base with a double and a walk in the first inning, before a strikeout and a fine defensive play by Tyrone Taylor kept the Cubs off the board. After a bounce-back second, it looked like Tong could be set for another bounce-back start.
“Tough first, huge play by Tyrone,” Tong said. “And thought I figured it out in the second, and then, they just got to me.”
In that third, the Cubs went: single, walk, single, double, single, and double to score four runs in and ended his night without an out recorded in the frame.
“They got him. They were aggressive on the fastball,” Mendoza said. “I feel like, other than the second inning, he had a hard time elevating the fastball, and that’s what makes him who he is. They took some really good changeups.”
“I made my effort, just didn’t execute it,” the righty said about struggling to elevate the heater. “Just gotta do a better job limiting damage there.”
The 22-year-old was just a two-pitch pitcher on the night, throwing the fastball and changeup 51 times out of 56 offerings. “I don’t think he used the breaking ball enough,” Mendoza said. “He could have done a better job of mixing there. Especially once they were all over the fastball.”
Four of his breaking pitches went for balls, and the other was smashed up the middle for a first-inning single.
Tong agreed with the manager’s assessment: “Definitely have to establish that more in the zone and keep just being unpredictable. Just gotta do a better job on my part.”
And, amid pitching staff-wide struggles, it is a tough task for Tong and fellow rookies Brandon Sproat and Nolan McLean to do the heavy lifting in high-pressure games at the business end of the season while they’re still figuring out how to pitch in the majors.
“You got some of these guys going through it at the big league level, especially where we’re at,” Mendoza said. “It’s hard to put it on them or to blame them. This is where we are. We continue to go through it.”
After a fast rise from the Double-A ranks to the big leagues and a Wild Card race, the pressure of it all getting to the youngster could be understandable. But he said he entered the start with the mentality that “it’s just another baseball game.”
“Pressure is a privilege,” he said. “And I’m just out there just trying to do the best that I can.”
Mendoza doesn’t believe that the rough time for Tong (a 7.71 ERA through his first 18.2 innings) will impact his development. “Not at all,” he said.
Tong, who could still be used again either as a starter or out of the bullpen before the regular season ends on Sunday, said that he can “execute his pitches a little bit better, slow the game down, and go from there.”
He added, “Going to continue to be myself.”
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