Nolan McLean overcomes rough first in victory

McLean walked four, but the White Sox could barely touch him in the 92-pitch outing. Alas, the Mets never scored while he was in the game and ended up losing 2-1, so he remained 9-8 with a 3.21 ERA. He’ll face the Astros next weekend.

McLean didn’t really deserve this win, but he can thank his outfielders. Carson Benge threw runners out at home on back-to-back singles in the first inning, and then A.J. Ewing cut down Xander Bogaerts at home in the second. That sequence saw seven consecutive batters reach base against McLean over the two innings, but just one run scored. McLean cleaned it up from there, allowing just one single and two walks over the remaining four innings. He’s now 9-8 with a 3.34 ERA, and he’s due to face the White Sox next.

The only hit that McLean allowed was a solo homer by Ozzie Albies in the fifth. It’s a hard-luck loss, but it’s at least somewhat worth pointing out this comes after McLean got a win despite allowing five runs against the Guardians in his last effort. The talented 23-year-old walked two, struck out three, and saw his ERA dip to 3.42 on the season. He’s set to face the Padres on Monday.

McLean managed just a 22 percent whiff rate and threw seven different pitches as he was apparently struggling to find a combination he could command today -- only 54 of his 94 pitches were strikes. The Guardians stacked left-handed bats against him -- lefty batters have a .701 OPS against McLean as compared to a .549 by right-handers -- and Nathaniel Lowe was able to launch a three-run homer to make the box score look ugly. McLean will look to rebound against the Braves next week.

McLean racked up six strikeouts on the evening while issuing a pair of walks. All of the damage done against him came on solo home runs — one by Kyle Stowers in the fourth and another off the bat of Jakob Marsee in the seventh. The 25-year-old hurler generated 10 swings and misses on 99 pitches on the night, posting a CSW of 27 percent. He’ll carry an impressive 3.29 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and a 148/45 K/BB ratio (125 2/3 innings) into Thursday’s battle against the Guardians in Cleveland.

McLean struck out seven and generated 16 whiffs on 40 swings. The unearned runs came in the third after a Brett Baty error, with a Francisco Alvarez passed ball also hurting the cause. However, McLean could have spared himself the unearned runs had he gotten to first just a little quicker on a potential 3-6-1 double play. He did make a good effort, but he was a tad slow to get off the mound at the start of the play. McLean dropped to 7-7 with a 3.32 ERA. He’ll face the Marlins on Thursday.

McLean gave up two hits, walked two and struck out 10. He improved to 7-6 with the win. McLean had been pitching well in his last three starts entering Sunday with only two runs allowed in 18 innings with 19 strikeouts. This time, he allowed only four baserunners. McLean has a 3.34 ERA. He’s lined up to face the Dodgers at home next weekend.

McLean was thrown into the fire right away when Juan Soto dropped a fly ball against the first batter of the game. Then, with two outs, Masataka Yoshida slapped a weak double just inside the third base line that got caught on the tarp and two unearned runs came around to score. From there, McLean slammed the door. Carson Benge helped him out by throwing out a runner at home plate, but McLean did well despite again not having great feel for either his curveball or sweeper. Without those to lean on, he found success buzzing his four seamer at the top of the zone and it forced six of his eight total swings-and-misses. While it’s felt uneasy at times, McLean will close the first half with a 3.52 ERA, 125 strikeouts, and 39 walks through 107 1/3 innings pitched.

McLean allowed just three hard-hit balls in his first scoreless start of the year. He’s previously allowed only one run five times, including 13 days ago against the Reds when the lone run he gave up was unearned. This makes him 5-5 with a 3.78 ERA ahead of next start Monday in Atlanta.

McLean threw four scoreless innings to start the game and then struck out the first two hitters of the fifth inning before he allowed a single to Pete Crow-Armstrong, a double to Michael Conforto, and a homer to Michael Busch. In the fifth inning, he allowed a one-out double to Nico Hoerner, an infield single to Miguel Amaya, and then another two-out home run to Dansby Swanson. On the day, McLean struck out nine, walked two, and posted an impressive 18 percent swinging strike rate and 36 percent CSW. He didn’t have great command of the four-seamer and sweeper, and a few poorly spotted pitches came back to bite him. He’ll face the Blue Jays on the road next.