Mets pitching prospect Jonah Tong continues his journey back to the bigs with another impressive start with Triple-A Syracuse.
Pitching against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs on Saturday afternoon, Tong dominated, allowing just one unearned run on one hit and two walks while striking out six batters.
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The one blemish to Tong’s line was caused in the first inning. After allowing a leadoff walk and allowing Steward Berroa to reach on a throwing error by Tong on a sacrifice bunt, Otto Kemp made Tong pay with a sacrifice fly that brought in Christian Cairo home from third base. Tong would settle down, retiring 16 straight batters — including the sac fly — before a one-out walk and single put Tong in trouble again. But the young right-hander would get a flyout and Bryan De La Cruz to strike out to end the threat and Tong’s day.
Saturday was a great bounce-back game for Tong after pitching just 4.2 innings in his last start. On April 26, Tong allowed three runs on five hits and three walks against the Worcester Woo Sox. He still struck out six batters in the loss, a positive trend for Tong. Including Saturday, Tong has struck out at least six batters in five straight games.
Tong also lowered his season ERA to 4.60 after seven starts.
Another top prospect was playing in this game. A.J. Ewing continued his scorching hot start to his Triple-A career with two more hits. Ewing went 2-for-5 with a run scored and a stolen base, his fourth with Syracuse. Through five games in Triple-A, Ewing is hitting .556 with a double, a triple and two RBI. Saturday was also Ewing’s fourth multi-hit game.
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