All season, the Mets‘ starting rotation has been a reminder of how difficult it is to get big league hitters out.
Nolan McLean never got that memo.
In only his third-ever start on a major league mound, and in yet another crucial rivalry game in the middle of a playoff chase, the rookie righty absolutely suffocated the Philadelphia Phillies in a 6-0 win on Wednesday night at Citi Field helping the Mets complete the sweep. McLean allowed only four hits and rarely even worked into three-ball counts, facing only one over the minimum through seven innings.
The only hope the NL East leaders had was to get to the bullpen, but McLean worked so quickly and efficiently that he only needed 75 pitches to get through seven innings.
Hope was gone for Philadelphia long before he went back out for the eighth inning, but any they had left was fleeting. By that point, they were already down 6-0, thanks to a two-run home run by Mark Vientos in the bottom of the seventh, his sixth in his last 10 games.
It was undoubtedly one of the best performances by a Mets pitcher this season.
The Phillies (76-57) have now lost 10 straight games at Citi Field, including the NLDS, with the latest loss cutting their division lead over the Mets (72-61) to only four games. The two will play a four-game series at Citizens Bank Park starting Sept. 8. It could determine the winner of the NL east.
Facing right-hander Taijuan Walker, the Mets opened the third inning with five straight singles to go up 3-0. They pushed one more across in the fifth with two outs, spelling the end for the former Mets starter. Walker gave up four earned runs on 10 hits, walked one and struck out three in the loss (4-7).
Brandon Nimmo, the walk-off hero for the Mets one night prior, had a three-hit night, Brett Baty with 2-for-4 with a double and Vientos extended his season-long hitting streak to 10 games with an RBI single in the fifth. His home run off left-hander Tanner Banks in the seventh, No. 13 on the year, gave him three RBI.
The Phillies had runners on the corners in the top of the eighth after McLean gave up back-to-back singles to start the inning. The next two hitters hit fly balls to the outfield, but outfielders Tyrone Taylor and Brandon Nimmo held the runners on. With two outs, former Mets center fielder Harrison Bader flailed at one of McLean’s spinning sweepers. He made extra-weak contact, with the ball dribbling only a few feet into the grass, where McLean, an athletic former infielder, was easily able to field it and flip it to first baseman Pete Alonso for the third out.
McLean’s final line: 8.0 scoreless innings, no walks and six strikeouts, with his third win in as many tries.
A sellout crowd was loving every minute of it.
