NEW YORK -- It’s not a secret that the Mets are asking a lot of their three rookie starting pitchers -- Jonah Tong, Brandon Sproat and Nolan McLean. As New York’s grasp on the third NL Wild Card spot grows increasingly tenuous, it’s turned to the trio of rookie phenoms to help stop the bleeding.
This weekend, Tong, Sproat and McLean are scheduled to start -- in that order -- against the red-hot Rangers, with the Mets in dire need of a spark. On Friday, the series began on a disconcerting note.
Making his third career start, Tong was tasked with opposing Jacob deGrom and helping rescue New York from its latest downward spiral. He recorded just two outs, burying the Mets in an immediate 6-0 hole. deGrom, pitching against his former club for the first time since departing via free agency following the 2022 season, took care of things from there, completing seven strong innings to hand New York an 8-3 loss.
“He’s a young kid in a very big situation here with the brightest lights in the country in New York,” Brandon Nimmo said. “... This is not going to define him or his career. It’s going to happen. Just pick yourself up, learn from it and move on.”
Less than five weeks ago, Tong was pitching for Double-A Binghamton. He made just two starts with Triple-A Syracuse. Friday, he climbed the hill hoping to stop his club’s six-game skid, matched up with one of the premier pitchers in Mets franchise history.
Tong threw 40 pitches -- just 20 for strikes -- and faced nine batters. He allowed five consecutive baserunners to reach with two outs, as Texas rapped four two-out hits.
“I didn’t give the start I had for sure wanted,” said Tong, who received encouragement from a number of Mets pitchers. “... Keep your head up. The sun is going to rise tomorrow.”
Afterwards, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza repeatedly mentioned Tong’s pitch selection. Tong walked the game’s first batter, Josh Smith, on a 3-2 changeup. He gave up three hits on two-strike fastballs, unable to avoid a crooked number.
“That’s part of the learning here,” Mendoza said.
And that’s part of the conundrum that the Mets find themselves in. Tong, like the other rookies, earned his way to the Majors, rapidly developing into the No. 43 overall prospect, per MLB Pipeline. But the collective failure of the big league rotation created a need, too. It’s a two-way street, and that’s where outings like Friday’s come into play, with Tong -- just 22 years old -- learning as he goes.
“Keep your head up,” Mendoza said of his advice to Tong. “Keep going. There’s no other way around it. Just flush that one off and keep moving forward.”
That’s applicable to the Mets, too, who have now lost seven consecutive games -- their third losing streak of at least seven games in the past three months. This is the first time that the Mets have had three separate losing streaks of at least seven games in the same season since 1980, when they finished 67-95.
With 14 games to go, their lead for the final NL Wild Card spot is down to a half-game over the surging Giants.
“Obviously, very concerned,” Nimmo said. “We want to be in the playoffs and we’re not playing playoff baseball right now.”
That’s the way things have gone of late for the Mets. They tried to mount a comeback in the third inning, when they tagged deGrom for three runs, fueled by three straight hits. But after Francisco Lindor’s double with nobody out in that frame, New York had just one hit the rest of the way -- a single from Francisco Alvarez leading off the eighth.
It was reminiscent of Thursday night, when the last 25 Mets hitters were retired in the series finale against the Phillies.
“Look, you get down six in the first inning and you’re going against deGrom, it’s not an easy task,” Mendoza said. “We’ve shown at times that we can get back in games. But today was not the case.”
Mendoza conceded that the clubhouse is “frustrated.” That was on display in the fourth inning, when home-plate umpire Scott Barry rang up Jeff McNeil on a borderline pitch for strike three. McNeil screamed towards Barry, who promptly ejected him from the game.
McNeil became the first Mets player to be tossed from a game this season.
“We know where we are in the calendar,” Mendoza said. “There’s not too many games left here.”