It’s not often that the Mets score a bunch of runs in games started by Nolan McLean this season, but that’s exactly what they did on Tuesday night against the Washington Nationals after scoring five runs in the first two innings.
However, this time it was McLean who let his offense down after the right-hander allowed nine runs (six earned) in 5.2 innings. The six earned runs given up by McLean are a career-high and four of them came on one swing.
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the second inning, James Wood attacked McLean’s first pitch sweeper and sent it deep to left center field, where the Mets couldn’t make a play on it, which resulted in an inside-the-park grand slam.
In fact, all three hits allowed by McLean in that second inning came on the first pitch. All three were on different pitches.
“They were ultra aggressive, especially that first time through,” manager Carlos Mendoza said about the Nationals. “… They were hacking first pitch, they were looking hard. The sinker, the cutter, 1-0 [count] and they were aggressive. Balls found holes, they attacked him.”
With how aggressive Washington’s hitters were, McLean found it difficult to make the necessary adjustments on his pitches because they wouldn’t allow him to get settled or find a rhythm.
“Sometimes it’s tough to make adjustments when they’re putting the first pitch in play on multiple different pitches,” McLean said. “… They were just up there pretty aggressive, so sometimes it’s tough to get to the adjustment as quick as normal.”
To make things more difficult for McLean, he clearly didn’t have his best stuff and had to battle with every pitch. On top of that, his fastball, which usually sits around 96 to 97 mph, was hovering around 94 mph for most of the night, perhaps due to the high heat and humidity.
It’s also possible the 45-minute rain delay at the start of the game threw off the right-hander.
“They made some pretty good swings on some decent pitches,” McLean said. “Obviously, I didn’t have my best stuff, but that’s no excuse for not going out there and competing better than I did.”
In the end, McLean went 5.2 innings before handing it off to Daniel Duarte, who saved the bullpen by finishing the game with 2.1 scoreless innings.
Still, it’s not the outing that McLean expects out of himself.
“Obviously, the bullpen’s been getting after it these last couple of days, but my job every time, whether we have a full bullpen or not, is to go out there and get at least seven, so I’m disappointed I didn’t do that,” he said.
But back to the biggest swing of the night, that inning actually began with McLean retiring the first two batters. A double kept the inning going, but after that McLean got ahead 0-2 to No. 8 hitter Drew Millas before hitting him with a curveball.
That mistake elongated the inning and proved costly as an infield single loaded the bases before Wood jumped the rookie.
“In that second inning there, with two outs, even after the double, the 0-2 hit by pitch was kinda like the killer there,” Mendoza said. “… The 0-2 hit by pitch ended up costing a lot in that inning. Overall, especially in those early innings, like I said, he wasn’t able to go to his secondary, make that adjustment… It was a battle for him.”
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