Jonah Tong could not escape an unrelenting tailspin.
Can the Mets?
A season that has been spiraling might have reached its roughest moment Friday, when Tong went from a fan favorite to hearing some boos in 19 minutes that tanked a game and added a bit more weight to a Mets campaign that is tanking.
The Mets — who were baseball’s best team in mid-June and as recently as Sept. 2 held a five-game wild-card lead — are imploding, their seventh consecutive loss arguably the ugliest of the stretch yet.
Tong did not survive the first inning. Jeff McNeil was tossed in the fourth. What might have been a night remembered for welcoming back Jacob deGrom could be remembered for 41,040 fans in Queens beginning to say goodbye to the 2025 Mets.
The season’s final home stand began with an 8-3 dud to the Rangers that was filled with the frustration of a team that suddenly — or maybe not so suddenly, with the Mets now 31-48 since June 13 — cannot do anything right.
“Obviously very concerned,” Brandon Nimmo said of the collapse of the Mets (76-72), who hold a razor-thin half-game lead over the Giants in the battle for the final NL wild-card spot. “We want to be in the playoffs, and we’re not playing playoff baseball right now. But got to come into [Saturday] expecting things to change.”
Such has been the rallying cry for half of June, most of July, most of August and most of September. A team with undeniable talent has lost at least seven straight games for a third time. A team with a seemingly bottomless wallet is four games over .500 for the first time since April 16.
“They’re frustrated obviously. I’m not going to lie,” manager Carlos Mendoza said of his clubhouse. “But I’m going to keep saying it: We got to get out of it.”
They have remained in it and have barely even threatened recently to escape it. As has become the habit when virtually anyone other than Nolan McLean (and perhaps Brandon Sproat) is pitching, the game was decided quickly — though this might have been the quickest.
Tong released his first pitch at 7:11 p.m., when a fan base that has quickly fallen in love with the boyish ball of energy cheered every strike.
There were not enough of those. By 7:30 p.m., Mendoza made the dreaded walk to the mound to pull Tong, who heard plenty of dissatisfaction and some light boos on the way to the dugout.
The righty’s third career start was a nightmare in which he allowed six runs, recorded two outs and threw 40 pitches.
“I didn’t give the start I had for sure wanted,” said an emotional Tong, looking like the 22-year-old who was pitching in Double-A Binghamton about a month ago that he is.
Tong, who had encountered location issues in the minors but always fought his way out, could not navigate out of a frame that would not end against a team determined to force him to throw strikes. Of Tong’s first 19 pitches, the Rangers swung once, which resulted in two walks and a strikeout.
Jake Burger’s fly out moved Tong one out away from an escape that he could not pull off, the next five batters reaching safely and plating six runs in the process with three singles, a walk and a double.
“He had a hard time throwing a strike with pretty much all his pitches,” said Mendoza, who did not commit to Tong receiving another start.
In the clubhouse afterward, David Peterson was among the several who was seen offering an encouraging pat or word.
“Keep your head up,” was the advice, Tong said softly. “The sun’s going to rise tomorrow.”
A prospect flopped, which happens. The prospects for the Mets’ season, meanwhile, are fading just as quickly, with frustrations beginning to bleed onto the field.
It became most noticeable when McNeil erupted after a called strike three and earned a quick ejection in the bottom of the fourth. A potential ball four at his knees was not called, and McNeil flipped his bat away and yelled something to which umpire Scott Barry took offense.
Yes, he showed fight. But this was not the fight the Mets have been looking for during free-fall that threatens to end the season.
“Baseball can turn around real quick,” Nimmo said. “… Whoever gets into the playoffs and is the hottest team, that’s usually who ends up winning the World Series.
“If we can turn this around in the next few games … I think there are a lot of teams that would not like to see us on the other side.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
