MIAMI -- A little more than a year after Jonah Tong made his Major League debut against the Marlins at Citi Field on Aug. 29, 2025, he has shared that he is interested in getting to know the person he has become through the adversity faced since first taking an MLB mound.
“It's just more experience. I felt it,” Tong said after the Mets’ 9-4 victory over Miami. “Last year, I felt like a kid going out there every time, just being shell-shocked by a lot of things. Now, it's more like [my] feet are more set … and just going out there just trying to do my job.”
On Monday at loanDepot park, the 23-year-old tossed five innings with seven strikeouts, allowing four runs on four hits and one walk over 87 pitches to win his first MLB start of the season.
“[I felt] good,” Tong said. “Just one walk and a couple of pitches here and there, but it’s just me being nitpicky. Happy with it, [the] team won.”
The Mets’ No. 5 prospect had a 4.54 ERA over 23 starts with Triple-A Syracuse in 2026 and a 3.60 ERA over three Major League appearances in May and June this year.
He had been pitching better of late, allowing one run or none in six of his last seven Triple-A starts, including a seven-inning shutout on Aug. 29. He will remain in the Mets’ rotation for the rest of the season.
The young right-hander opened his outing by striking out Kyle Stowers, getting the first two strikes on check swings at four-seam fastballs that featured late movement. He finished Stowers with a 96.3 mph four-seamer and followed with a strikeout of Heriberto Hernández on a changeup. Tong then struck out Griffin Conine on three pitches.
Tong continued to lean on the changeup in the second, striking out Otto Lopez to begin the frame on an 87.9 mph offering. But after Jakob Marsee singled for Miami’s first hit, Tong gave up an RBI triple to Javier Sanoja on a first-pitch, 90.2 mph cutter.
Facing Owen Caissie, Tong got ahead in the count, 1-2, before Caissie drew a seven-pitch walk, bringing Graham Pauley to the plate. It was the only at-bat that was difficult for Tong to bounce back from because he said he felt he had more control over it.
Pauley put the Marlins ahead with a three-run homer to right field on a 95 mph four-seamer, turning a two-run Mets lead into a 4-3 Miami advantage.
“The home run pitch was a good pitch,” catcher Francisco Alvarez said in Spanish. “It was a pitch on the black, away. [Pauley] just had a good swing on it and that happens. He executed, the walk was the only thing.”
Tong responded by striking out Stowers for a second time to end the inning.
“[I’m] really pleased with his outing,” interim manager Andy Green said. “The second inning is one of those things that just the only hits he gives up all day are sequenced together right there, and then the home run bites pretty hard at that point in time.
“To watch him be a cutthroat competitor, get in there and just go right back at them for the next three innings, it was really good. … I know he's not going to love the line at the end of the day, with the four runs coming in, but the way he pitched today was way better than that line is going to indicate.”
Tong generated 12 whiffs through two innings Monday, tying the Mets’ Statcast-era record for a pitcher in the first two innings of a game. The changeup was his most-used pitch, with 33 thrown, and his primary putaway pitch, generating a 42% whiff rate and five strikeouts. Its effectiveness came from its location and where Alvarez set up to receive it.
“One of his best pitches,” Alvarez said. “He can throw it for strikes or balls, whatever he wants. Early in the count, late in the count. I think that is what makes it special too.”
Tong also heavily relied on his four-seamer and cutter, while using his curveball seven times. The curve is one of Green’s favorite pitches in Tong’s arsenal.
“I've always loved his curveball,” Green said. “Punches the first four out in the game today [and] doesn't have to use it. Later in the game, he started stealing strikes with it. That probably throws other teams off the scent a little bit. He can really zone it well, so it's a great strike pitch.
“So, something that should feature prominently in his arsenal. … He got going without needing it, but it'll be part of what he does.”