Jonah Tong’s mom, Karen, and dad, Alex, were in attendance, but this was the equivalent of 42,112 Little League parents at Citi Field on Friday night.
Tong received a loud ovation — mostly standing — while walking in from the bullpen in right-center field to the dugout, side by side with Luis Torrens, as his Major League debut approached. And with the drama of this game drained after the Mets scored a franchise-record 12 runs over the first two innings, the sellout crowd was now exhorting Tong toward his personal finish line and to qualify for his own win.
They lived and died with each pitch — invested in their newest kid — through an excruciating top of the fifth that began with a Tong shutout and ended with a Tong shout out.
For the positional group that had so supported Tong in the first two innings offensively had abandoned him in the fifth defensively as consecutive errors by Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso pushed the Marlins to four runs (three unearned) and the 22-year-old righty toward a triple-digit pitch count. Jose Castillo was warming. The count went to 1-2 on Liam Hicks. The crowd stood. Imploring. Begging. Praying. Through ball two and ball three.
