What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets beat the Astros to even up the series, 6-2 (box)
RHP Nolan McLean had another strong outing, allowing just one run on two hits over seven innings, walking three and striking out four; it’s McLean’s fourth straight quality start
1B Jared Young was the heart of the offense with a three-hit, three-RBI day, including a two-run triple in the fifth; it’s the first three-RBI performance of Young’s MLB career
DH Juan Soto got right back to work in his return from the injured list with an RBI single in the fifth; C Francisco Álvarez added some late insurance with a two-run double in the bottom of the eighth
2B Marcus Semien and LF Brett Baty both had two-hit days; CF A.J. Ewing’s struggles at the plate continued with a hitless night, but he contributed to the win with a highlight play in the outfield
RHP Daniel Duarte gave up a homer to Astros DH Yordan Álvarez in his inning of relief, but RHP Kodai Senga closed the game out with a scoreless final frame
The Mets placed Luis Robert Jr. on waivers, although there’s a chance he goes unclaimed and remains with the Mets (MLB.com)
Roster Moves 📰
OF Juan Soto activated from the 10-day IL
INF Eric Wagaman optioned to Triple-A
OF Luis Robert Jr. was placed on outright waivers
Injury Report 🩺
RHP Devin Williams (right shoulder strain) restarted his throwing progression with a game of catch
Play of the Game 🔥
The Mets put on a clutch-hitting clinic in the fifth.
First, Francisco Lindor doubled following an inning-opening strikeout from Francisco Álvarez. Then, after fouling a ball off his shin, Juan Soto drove in Lindor with a single to right field. Bo Bichette followed up with a fly out, but Carson Benge kept the inning alive with a two-out single.
Then, Jared Young stepped into the box.
With his team clinging to a one-run lead, Young roped an 0-2 sweeper down the right field line and into the corner for a two-run, two-out triple. The Mets didn’t relinquish the lead the rest of the night.
The Just Mets Podcast 🎙️
ICYMI: In the latest edition of The Just Mets Podcast, Rich recapped a rough series against Milwaukee, discussed Sean Manaea’s recent regression, and the rumors around Andy Green and a potential landing spot as the club’s GM.
SUBSCRIBE: YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Down on the Farm 🌾
RHP Jonah Tong (No. 5 prospect, Triple-A): 7.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K
CF/RF D’Andre Smith (Triple-A): 3-for-7, HR, 2B, 2 R, 4 RBI, BB, 2 K, 2 SB
DH Mark Vientos (Triple-A, rehab): 3-for-4, HR, 2 R, RBI
3B Jacob Reimer (No. 7 prospect, Double-A): 3-for-6, 2 2B, 2 BB, K
C Julio Zayas (Single-A): 3-for-4, HR, 2 R, RBI, K
BOX SCORES
Single-A SLU | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG (Gm1 / Gm2) | Triple-A SYR (Gm1 / Gm2)
Today’s Game 🗓
Match-up: Mets (61-75) vs. Astros (68-68)
Where: Citi Field - Flushing, NY
Starters: LHP Zac Thornton (3-4, 2.88 ERA) vs. RHP Ethan Pecko (0-0, 7.88 ERA)
When: 3:10 PM EDT
Where to Watch: NBC/Peacock
We’ll be seeing Jonah Tong again soon ✍️
Jonah Tong’s 2026 season has been a rollercoaster, but the twists and turns may have finally given way to a long-awaited smooth landing.
And after yesterday’s near-no-hitter — a one-hit shutout in the first game of a doubleheader against Lehigh Valley — and with rosters expanding on Tuesday, Tong is officially back on call-up watch.
A few days ago, SNY’s Danny Abriano wrote about the Mets taking a slower, steadier approach to Tong’s development and promotion this season, which has ultimately proved wise and necessary. Despite a less-than-stellar start to the year in the minors, the Mets brought Tong back up to the bigs for 10 quick innings in May. Working in bulk relief, Tong actually fared pretty decently against pro talent, but he issued seven walks over his very few frames. He was sent back down fairly swiftly, and almost immediately fell back into his unproductive rhythm, allowing at least three runs in five of his next six starts for Syracuse.
However, Tong’s latest efforts have been (mostly) more than satisfactory. In his seven starts before yesterday’s gem, Tong delivered a 2.65 ERA over 34 innings with 36 strikeouts and 18 walks, which includes a particularly brutal five-homer day at the beginning of August. In the 21.1 innings since then, he’s tossed 23 strikeouts against 10 walks while allowing only two runs. He hasn’t allowed a run in roughly 15 innings.
Could Tong be, as they say…back?
As with his statistical struggles, much has also been made about Tong’s proclivity for tinkering; reasonable, as they go hand-in-hand, to an extent.
Some of Tong’s struggles this season can probably be attributed to the talent level jump — “striking out the world last season for Binghamton did not mean he was going to strike out the world this season for Syracuse,” noted Abriano — but there are trackable issues that have stemmed from the frequent messing with his mix.
To expand his impact across the width of the zone, Tong lowered his arm angle by roughly 8°. That’s a mechanical adjustment that should theoretically give him a bit more lateral coverage, but also naturally had an immediate impact across his repertoire, as MLB.com’s Jared Greenspan noted in a May recap of Tong’s performance against the Reds:
His fastball’s vertical ride and cut had decreased from 2025, both directly attributable to the lower slot. Tong’s original over-the-top delivery point was perfectly suited to elevating velocity; a loss of about two inches of induced vertical break (iVB) with double the arm-side movement tracks for such a big mechanical adjustment.
Suddenly, Tong’s lethal 12-6 hammer curveball (with 16” of vertical drop) looked almost completely different when the Mets called him up in May, with half the plummet and nearly twice as much horizontal break towards his glove side.
Tong’s new cutter averaged over 92 mph, which would rank among the top 20 hardest-thrown cutters by qualified righties in MLB; it still lacks the late horizontal break to consistently elicit swings, though.
As the season has progressed, so has Tong’s mastery of his mix. In his last outing before Saturday’s shutout, a five-plus-inning outing against the WooSox, Tong mixed his secondary pitches evenly behind his fastball, with his cutter, changeup, and curve seeing equivalent usage. Though his strikeout numbers weren’t gaudy, he consistently found the strike zone and kept hitters off the basepaths while using a little bit of everything. That’s encouraging.
And though yesterday’s outing featured a less-even shape distribution, Tong demonstrated another level of control over his repertoire: his fastball looked like the weapon it was last season, eliciting a 27.3% whiff rate while hitting 97 mph on the gun, and his changeup got six whiffs on eight swings. He needed just 88 pitches, and delivered 62.5% of them for strikes.
“When he’s got velo, when he fills up the strike zone, he’s good,” skipper Andy Green said recently.
Indeed.
To be clear: though signs of improvement abound recently, Tong is very much still a work in progress. While he’s allowed fewer walks in August relative to the rest of the season, he still issues too many free passes for comfort, and his reinvented pitch mix hasn’t gotten a chance to dance on the big stage just yet to know how much utility these new offerings actually have. The cutter was very much a fledgling offering when he flashed it earlier this season, and it’s a shape he’s clearly still cracking the code of, even as results start to break through.
But if his fastball and changeup continue to operate at full force whenever he does get the call, that should provide enough of a foundation for the pitching coaches to coax the most out of him over the final weeks of the regular season. If they can help Tong find the best version of himself at this stage of his development, with infinitely lower stakes than in his rushed debut, this next call-up could prove vital to his taking the next step in his evolution as a pitcher.
The Mets’ youth movement has kept this team interesting for most of this season, despite it being lost so early. Whether Tong is deployed as a starter, a bulk reliever, or another surprise shutdown bullpen addition, there’s reason for fans to keep paying attention to this all-but-lost season — and, hopefully, to feel some cautious optimism about the not-so-distant future.
Around the League 🚩
Pete Crow-Armstrong had the first three-homer game of his career, powering the Cubs to a 17-5 drubbing of the Reds
Reds rookie phenom Sal Stewart hit his 30th homer of the year, making him just the second rookie in franchise history with a 30-homer season (Frank Robinson, ‘58), and the only Cincy rookie to ever compile a 30 HR/100 RBI campaign
Philly’s Christoper Sánchez secured his second-straight 200 K season with eight strikeouts over seven shutout innings against the Angels; the Phillies would go on to win 4-2
Atlanta southpaw Martín Pérez held the Rockies to a single run over 5 2/3 innings, leading the Braves to a sixth-straight win, 2-1
The Giants retired Hall of Famer Jeff Kent’s No. 21 in a ceremony attended by Barry Bonds, Juan Marichal, Dusty Baker, and more
It should not surprise us how this lineup lenghtens when Soto is in the lineup instead of (we request waivers on him) Luis Robert Jr. As the old adage goes, we should be wary of statistics in March and September, but if Tong gets the call, I think it will be fun to watch this team in September.