Nolan McLean continues to impress with every outing, but Tuesday night’s matchup against the defending World Series champion Dodgers was arguably his best start yet.
Going up against Yoshinobu Yamamoto, McLean held the vaunted Dodgers offense to just one run on two hits across seven innings while striking out eight. Unfortunately for the Mets, Yamamoto held their lineup to just one run on four hits before the Dodgers lineup scratched a run across on New York’s bullpen to pull out the 2-1 win.
“They were both awesome,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said of the pitcher’s duel. “Yamamoto was pretty nasty, but Nolan was pretty nasty too. They went head-to-head. It was inning after inning, batter after batter, pitch after pitch. They made it tough on hitters. Sucks losing that one, especially when you get that type of outing. But they were both on their game today.”
It’s tough for any pitcher to pitch on the road in Los Angeles, let alone against a lineup that features Shohei Ohtani among other future Hall of Famers, but the moment wasn’t too big for McLean.
The 24-year-old has been lauded for his even-keel demeanor and competitiveness since he was called up late last year and that shone through on Tuesday. McLean was asked about whether he had some “extra juice” pitching against the Dodgers, and the right-hander made it seem like any other start.
“Maybe a little bit, but like I’ve said before, I try to treat every start the same, no matter who’s standing in the box or where I’m at,” McLean said after the game. “I just want to win every time I go out there. I grew up a baseball fan, and getting to watch some of these guys on TV growing up, it’s cool to compete against them.”
And compete he did.
The only run the Dodgers scored off of McLean came in the first inning, but not off a home run or extra-base hit, but on a groundout.
After Francisco Lindor gave McLean and the Mets the early 1-0 lead on a leadoff homer, the Dodgers scratched across the tying run in the first. A one-out walk to Kyle Tucker came back to bite McLean after Will Smith doubled to put him in scoring position and Freddie Freeman’s dribbler allowed Tucker to scamper home. The Dodgers wouldn’t get close to scoring a run again off McLean.
“Outside of the walk in the first inning, I felt like I filled the zone up and was attacking guys,” McLean explained. “Once I got it to two strikes, it was much easier to pitch with two strikes than behind in the count. I was comfortable getting there and I was happy with the way I was getting two strikes.”
That emphasis on throwing first-pitch strikes helped McLean pitch seven innings for just the third time in his career, including Tuesday. It’s the first time he’s done it this season.
McLean says that whether hitters put the ball in play or get a strike called on the first pitch he throws, they are both wins for him, so it’s worth it to use his fastball to get ahead in counts. Of the 95 pitches he threw, 49 of them were either the four-seam or sinker (51 percent), and 37 of his 68 strikes were from those two pitches.
And once he got ahead, McLean used any of his six pitches to get the Dodgers bats out.
“Not only on Shohei, but some of their hitters [like] Freddie Freeman… that first at-bat and some of the swings he was taking, he pretty much dominated one of the best lineups in the league,” Mendoza said. “That goes to show you how good of a pitcher Nolan is when he’s at his best. And today was one of those nights.”
And the Mets needed McLean at his best. Although they outhit the Dodgers, the Mets could only push across one run and didn’t capitalize on opportunities like in the eighth when Yamamoto was out of the game and they had runners on second and third and two outs.
Over the last seven games (all losses), the Mets have scored a combined 10 runs.
“He kept us in the game. He did a really good job,” Lindor said of McLean’s outing. “Gave us quick innings, chances for us to score. Gave us the momentum and we didn’t capitalize on it. It’s one of those where you wish you got it done for him. He pitched his butt off today. Even though he gave us momentum every single inning. We gotta do our best to win games like this.”
The Mets will look to snap their losing streak without McLean on the mound when they take on Ohtani and the Dodgers in the final game of their three-game set on Wednesday.
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