Jonah Tong makes New York Mets history in latest start

Jonah Tong made franchise history on Thursday after his gem.

Sep 18, 2025; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Jonah Tong (21) pitches against the San Diego Padres during the first inning at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

After failing to make it out of the first inning during his previous start, Jonah Tong gave the New York Mets a much-needed bounce-back outing.

In his fifth career start on Thursday, the 22-year-old went five innings against the San Diego Padres, allowing one unearned run on four hits with no walks and a career-high eight strikeouts. Tong also retired the final eight batters he faced.

What makes this start even more impressive for the young right-hander is that at 22 years and 91 days old, Tong is the youngest Mets pitcher since Dwight Gooden to not allow an earned run or walk any batters and have eight strikeouts in a start. Tong's ERA dropped from 8.49 to 5.94 after his strong performance.

At 22 years, 91 days, Jonah Tong is the youngest pitcher in Mets history to have a start of 0 earned runs, 0 walks and 8 strikeouts since:

Doc Gooden pic.twitter.com/iLQWgu0Y3A

— Metsmerized Online (@Metsmerized) September 18, 2025

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This was undoubtedly Tong's best start since making his major league debut on August 29. His previous outing saw him last just 0.2 innings against the Texas Rangers on September 12, allowing six earned runs on four hits while walking four batters. Before that start, Tong also struggled against the Cincinnati Reds on September 6, allowing four earned runs and three home runs over six innings.

Jonah Tong struck out 8 Padres and allowed just an unearned run this afternoon at Citi Field pic.twitter.com/0eBEwJ47Ie

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) September 18, 2025

After striking out nearly 180 combined batters with Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Syracuse across 113.2 innings pitched, this was the Jonah Tong that the Mets hoped they were getting when they called up the righty hurler in late August after making just two starts in Triple-A.

Manager Carlos Mendoza echoed that sentiment about how Tong's dominant start against San Diego was the pitcher they had seen in the minor leagues throughout the season, especially after getting into trouble in the first inning and then settling down.

"We're talking about bouncing back from the last outing, but bouncing back from the first couple of innings and then settling in nicely, that's the guy we saw at the minor league level... it was pretty impressive," Mendoza said.

Through five starts, Tong is now 2-2 with a 5.94 ERA, 21 punchouts and a WHIP of 1.44 across 16.2 innings of work.

New York will now turn to fellow pitching prospect Brandon Sproat on Friday against the Washington Nationals, as the Mets continue their push to the postseason with just nine games to go in the regular season. Sproat, Tong and Nolan McLean have been as advertised since arriving in the major leagues, as the three young starters have not allowed an earned run over the last 17 innings combined.