Jonah Tong was knocked around as he took the ball for Syracuse on Thursday night.
The Mets’ right-handed pitching prospect lasted just 1.2 innings, giving up seven runs (six of which were earned) on five hits and three walks while striking out two.
Advertisement
He served up a pair of homers and threw three wild pitches.
Tong found himself in immediate danger, as a error and single put the first two Scranton runners on. An Oswaldo Cabrera single to right brought in the first run of the game, then another darted home on a wild pitch.
A walk then put runners on the corners, but Tong scampered out of danger.
He didn’t fare much better opening up the top of the second, though, as Jonathan Ornelas ripped just the third pitch he saw to deep center for a leadoff triple.
After a walk, a force out brought home the third run of the game.
Tong almost danced out of it without further damage, but he gave up a long two-out three-run homer to Marco Luciano and then a two-run shot to Seth Brown to bring his night to an end.
Advertisement
The 22-year-old starter had pitched to a strong 1.64 ERA over his first two May starts (11.0 IP), but that number has clearly been inflated after his rough night at the park.
Tong is now up to an ugly 5.68 ERA through nine outings.
With fellow Syracuse starter Jack Wenninger dealing to start the Triple-A season, you have to figure he’s jumped Tong on the depth chart if a need were to arise in the big-league rotation.
Read the full article here