We’re so often told that baseball is a game of failure when actually, it’s a game of how you respond to it.

And as it turns out, Jonah Tong may be pretty good at this baseball thing.

Because it would have been remarkably easy to dismiss Tong after his frightful outing against the Rangers last week — to sense his panic then and feel as if the kid was placed in an untenable situation and needed more time to develop.

But with 10 games left going into Thursday, the Mets didn’t have the benefit of time. What they did have was a boyish Canadian with a baffling fastball, a nasty curveball and a short memory.

Tong led the way to a 6-1 win over the Padres in the rubber game of the series at Citi Field. The Diamondbacks (77-76), who were idle, and the Reds (77-76), who beat the Cubs on Thursday

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