Juan Soto homers, Sean Manaea allows just one run in Mets' bullpen game but lose to Marlins

Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News on May 22, 2026

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

MIAMI — The New York Mets have been getting increasingly younger over the last few weeks. At the same time, the bullpen has become increasingly thin as a result of short outings from starting pitchers.

Sean Manaea, a 34-year-old veteran lefty, reminded everyone that he’s still here Friday night at LoanDepot Park. On the other end of the spectrum, Jonah Tong, a 22-year-old right-handed prospect, reminded the Mets that he still has incredible potential in his first big league call-up of 2026.

And Juan Soto, square in the middle of the two at 27 years old, reminded everyone that he can still hit the ball a long way in the Mets’ 2-1 loss to the Miami Marlins. His 449-foot home run off right-hander Eury Pérez in the first inning was the Mets’ only run of the night.

Not that anyone needs to be reminded of Soto’s power prowess, especially considering he’s hit seven this month, including six in the last eight games. But on a night when Carson Benge was robbed of extra bases twice and Luis Torrens once, his monster mash was especially impressive.

Soto had the only two hits of the night for the Mets against Peréz (3-6), who retired eight straight after giving up the home run. A one-out single to Soto in the fourth was erased when Mark Vientos grounded into a double play.

The Mets didn’t fare much better against the bullpen either. A.J. Ewing hit a line drive off right-hander Michael Petersen in the seventh, but was then caught stealing to end the inning.

But the Marlins didn’t exactly create much offense against the Mets’ bullpen. It was a full bullpen day for the visitors, with Manaea pitching behind right-hander Tobias Myers as an opener, then Tong going the rest of the way. Myers and Manaea gave up one run each.

Miami took four hits off Manaea (0-1) over 3 2/3 innings, striking out three times, while Myers allowed the one run on one hit, walked one and struck out none in 1 1/3 innings.

Then, it was Tong time.

The Mets’ second-rated prospect was called up earlier in the day to replace Craig Kimbrel on the roster. Tong hasn’t been dominating hitters in Triple-A this season the way he did in the minors last year, but he had no problem spearing the Fish (23-29) over three innings.

Tong allowed only one baserunner and struck out two on the night, using 28 pitches.

Eight hits between two teams isn’t a ton of offense to begin with, but it can’t just be Soto. Benge had two balls that nearly went over the wall, but almost doesn’t count. The Mets (22-29) can’t fall back into a pattern of failing to produce offensively. They have to find another gear to help out their pitchers.

____