It was an outing Jonah Tong won't soon forget.
The Mets’ No. 5 prospect flirted with his first professional no-hitter as he tossed seven innings and allowed no runs, one hit and punched out eight in Triple-A Syracuse’s 6-0 win over Lehigh Valley in Game 1 of Saturday’s doubleheader at Coca-Cola Park.
The Mets’ No. 2 pitching prospect navigated 6 2/3 innings (doubleheaders in the Minors are seven-inning games) without allowing a hit to opposing IronPig hitters, only to lose his no-hit bid after a two-out single by Kameron Misner (Phillies) in the bottom of the seventh.
It's the second time in the past two seasons that Tong has taken a no-hitter into the seventh against a Phillies Minor League affiliate, as he tossed 6 2/3 perfect innings for Double-A Binghamton against Reading back on May 10, 2025. He was lifted due to his pitch count that day, and the bullpen was able to finish the job.
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Tong's stuff was dominant from the jump Saturday, as the right-hander fanned four of the first nine batters he faced. As he often does, Tong leaned heavily on his 60-grade fastball, throwing it at a 52.3 percent clip. Topping out at 97.1 mph, the four-seamer generated a 27.3 percent whiff rate (six whiffs on 22 total swings) and was responsible for collecting four of his eight strikeouts.
However, Tong’s most impressive pitch of the afternoon was his 60-grade changeup. His second-most-thrown offering, it posted a 75 percent whiff rate (six whiffs on eight swings). Along with his swing-and-miss stuff, the right-hander displayed impressive control, as Tong needed just 88 pitches -- 62.5 percent of which he threw for strikes -- to complete seven innings.
When batters did make contact against the 23-year-old, it was hardly loud or impactful. Of the 14 total batted-ball events logged by IronPig hitters vs. Tong, only four registered an exit velocity higher than 95 mph.
COMPLETE METS PROSPECT COVERAGE
Tong’s latest outing is the continuation of what been an impressive string of starts by the right-hander. Over his past 36 innings pitched, he sports a 2.00 ERA, 28.1 percent strikeout rate and has held opposing hitters to a .172 batting average against. In his past four starts, he's combined to allow just two runs over 21 1/3 innings.
Given how well he’s pitched over the past month, and with MLB rosters set to expand from 26 to 28 on Tuesday, the Ontario native could be getting another opportunity in the Mets' big league rotation in the near future.
“I think we’ll continue to keep an eye on him, continue to watch, continue to see how he performs,” said Mets’ interim manager Andy Green on Thursday. “The stuff has always been really, really good. When he’s got velo, when he fills up the strike zone, he’s good. And he’s done that more consistently recently, so we’re encouraged by that.”