Mets' offense explodes, Nolan McLean strong again in 12-7 win over Braves

The Mets' offense exploded for 12 runs as New York ended their two-game losing streak with a 12-7 win over the Braves in Atlanta on Friday night.

On a night where the Braves celebrated the 30th anniversary of their 1995 World Series team, having Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz throw out the first pitch, it was Nolan McLean who was the best pitcher in the building as he pitched seven strong innings to pick up his second career win.

Here are the takeaways…

-McLean's first road start began with a stumble on the mound on his first pitch that resulted in a hit-by-pitch. But the young right-hander bounced back, striking out Matt Olson, getting Ronald Acuña Jr. to ground into a forceout and striking out Michael Harris II on a check swing to end the frame.

McLean continued to stay poised even after allowing a leadoff double in the third inning. Jurickson Profar would drive in that run with a one-out single — the first run allowed in McLean's big league career — but a strike-'em-out-throw-'em-out double play ended the inning.

After a lengthy three-run fourth, Acuña greeted McLean with a leadoff homer. After that, McLean retired nine straight Braves to get through the sixth inning, becoming the first Mets starter to go that far, other than David Peterson, since Clay Holmes on June 7 (62 games). That streak would reach 11 before a two-out single in the seventh.

McLean tossed 94 pitches (58 strikes) across seven innings, allowing two runs on four hits while striking out seven batters. After he walked four batters in his first start, McLean did not give up a walk in this one. His 15 strikeouts in his first two starts are second in Mets history, behind Matt Harvey's 18 in 2012.

-With Jeff McNeil, Luis Torrens and Brandon Nimmoout of the lineup due to injuries, their replacements got the Mets on the board early. Back-to-back one-out singles from Brett Baty and Tyrone Taylor in the second got the Mets a scoring chance and catcher Hayden Senger came through with a two-out single to score Baty and give the Mets an early 1-0 lead. It's only Senger's second career RBI.

After Francisco Lindor walked to load the bases, Juan Soto worked a six-pitch walk to put the Mets up 2-0. Starling Marte followed by flying out to end the threat. 

The Mets' offense would capitalize on an RBI chance in the third inning, though, as Cedric Mullins lined a two-run triple to put the Mets up 4-0. In the fourth, back-to-back singles to lead off by Lindor and Soto resulted in a sac fly by Marte to put the Mets up 5-1, and knock starter Joey Wentz out of the game after just 3.1 innings. Mark Vientos continued to scorch the ball with a two-out double that drove in Soto from first base. An infield single from Baty and a double by Tyrone increased their lead to 7-1.

-Soto would pour it on in the seventh with a two-run shot that hit off the left field foul pole to give the Mets a 9-2 lead. Soto finished 3-for-4 with four RBI and two walks. He picked up his 100th walk of the season and is now just 25 behind John Olerud (1999) for most in a single season in Mets history.

Senger would hit a two-run single in the eighth to put a bow on his night. The third-string catcher had a career day at the plate, finishing 2-for-5 with three RBI.

-The Mets' offense had 21 hits and although every starter had at least one hit, most of the damage came from the bottom of the order. The 6-9 hitters went a combined 12-for-20 with six RBI. Baty had four hits while Taylor and Mullins had three hits each.

Reed Garrett was tasked with mop-up duty and struggled in his one inning of work. Garrett allowed two runs on three hits and struck out one batter. Ryan Helsley, in a move likely to give the reliever some confidence after some recent struggles, was given the ninth inning. The right-hander walked the leadoff batter and gave up a one-out double. Vidal Brujan, off the bench, hit a two-out single to drive in a run. That was followed by a two-run double from Profar. Helsley would get the final out, eventually, but allowed three runs in the final frame.

Game MVP: Nolan McLean

Yes, the offense went bananas but McLean's outing didn't allow this porous bullpen more innings to allow runs.

Highlights

What's next

The Mets and Braves play the middle game of their three-game set when the first pitch is thrown at 7:15 p.m. on Saturday night. 

Clay Holmes (10-6, 3.64 ERA) takes the mound against recently-acquired Cal Quantirll (4-10, 5.50 ERA).

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