Nolan McLean pitches well in loss to Phillies

McLean ended his excellent rookie season in style with seven strong innings here. Clean through four, he ran into some trouble in the fifth when a few hard-hit ground balls found holes and turned into two runs. After that, McLean breezed through two more frames and a well-timed home run by Marcus Semien in the eighth put him in line for his 12th win. Still, McLean struggled to miss bats and heavily leaned into his strong sinker, as he has over the last month or so. It forced tons of ground balls though and he finally had a good feel for his curveball. In the end, he hurled 179 2/3 innings, struck out 194 batters, and wound up with a 3.16 ERA.

McLean wasn’t right from the jump in this start. His command was all over the place from the very first batter and it took a line drive that found a glove with the bases loaded and double play to hold the Yankees to just one in the first inning. Then, things got much worse in the second. He retired the first two batters he faced, but still wound up throwing 35 pitches and letting up three more runs in the frame. He was nearly out of the inning too before Ben Rice challenged what would’ve been a called third strike, got it reversed, and Cody Bellinger homered just after. It was the first home run McLean has given up as a big leaguer on his curveball as he just couldn’t make it move the way he wanted it to. By the end of that barrage, he’d allowed a hit to seven of the first 13 batters he faced. He rounded out through the middle innings though and saved his line some despite the damage already being done. This poor start was a crushing blow to McLean’s Rookie of the Year hopes and he’s scheduled to face the Phillies at home next time out.

Not much came easy for McLean in this one after the first couple of innings despite a solid final line. By the time he took the mound for the top of the third, the Mets had taken a 7-0 lead and things suddenly got a bit hairy. Over the next three frames, he walked three batters, gave up six hits, and was fortunate to only have two runs on his ledger. Then, he surprisingly came back out for the sixth inning already at 94 pitches despite those struggles and ended his outing with three quick outs. When he struck out Christian Koss to end his night, McLean let out a massive roar to his dugout. In the end, he tossed a career-high 105 pitches, has completed at least six innings in 13 of his last 14 starts, and left this start with a 3.06 ERA as he makes a late season charge for the Rookie of the Year award. He’s scheduled to face the Marlins in Miami next time out, but could be pushed back to face the Yankees in the Bronx as the Mets are potentially moving some parts around in their rotation.

McLean gave up a run in the first inning on a double and a sacrifice fly following a fielding error, making the run unearned. He then quieted the Astros’ lineup over six more scoreless frames, stranding three more runners while collecting four strikeouts. The 25-year-old right-hander will look to follow the dominant performance when he takes a 3.06 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, and a 172/61 K/BB ratio across 155 2/3 innings into a start against the Giants in New York on Friday.

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.