Tony Gonsolin ‘Very Upset’ By Walks Against Mets

Tony Gonsolin made his fifth start for the Los Angeles Dodgers this season, and it turned into his second consecutive poor outing, this time in a 5-2 loss to the New York Mets.

Gonsolin pitched five innings, but allowed four runs on seven hits while striking out four and walking three. His command was off for most of the night, and fell apart in the fourth inning.

The right-hander allowed a leadoff single to begin the fourth before retiring the next two hitters. As he was almost out of the inning, Gonsolin went on to throw nine straight balls, which loaded the bases with two walks.

An infield single from Starling Marte tied the game, and then Juan Soto doubled home both runners who reached on a walk to give the Mets a 4-2 lead.

Gonsolin expressed his frustration with the walks that inning, noting they were likely the reason he ended up allowing three runs in the fourth, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:

“Very upset with the walks,” Gonsolin said. “Don’t walk those guys, potentially that inning looks a lot different. Just need to attack guys.”

Gonsolin bounced back with his first 1-2-3 inning of the game in the fifth inning, but that proved to be his only one of the night. He also allowed a walk in the first inning and hit a batter in the second inning, which led to a run.

The Mets threatened in the third inning with a pair of one-out singles, but Gonsolin escaped the jam by getting Jeff McNeil to ground into a double play.

Despite the early 2-0 lead, the Dodgers offense couldn’t get anything else going against David Peterson, who pitched 7.2 innings with seven strikeouts, and that led to Gonsolin taking the loss.

Tony Gonsolin stats this season

After facing the Mets, Gonsolin now holds a 4.68 ERA across 25 innings with a 1.44 WHIP. He’s struck out 28 hitters while walking 12. Gonsolin’s walk issue has dated back to his last start on May 18 against the Los Angeles Angels when he allowed five free passes over just four innings.

The 31-year-old began the year on a nice run, tossing 16 innings while allowing just five runs. But he has now allowed eight runs in his last nine innings.