McLean is Marvelous Again

It’s been three starts, but all signs point to Nolan McLean being something special.

The 24-year-old righty was masterful on Wednesday evening, carving up the Phillies over eight innings of shutout baseball.

By the time he was removed, McLean had thrown 95 pitches, struck out six, given up just four hits, and walked zero. The Mets would go on to win 6-0, sweeping the Phillies out of New York and securing their 10th straight win against Philadelphia on home turf.

McLean earned himself a victory, improving his record to 3-0. He is the first Mets pitcher to ever win the first three games of their career. 

McLean was cruising from the start. Through five innings, the right-hander had faced the minimum. With some help from the Flying Squirrel in center field, McLean retired 15 Phillies in a row before allowing a hit with two outs in the seventh.

After seven innings, he had thrown just 70 pitches. In the eighth, McLean ran into some trouble. Two straight base hits put runners on the corners with nobody out. However, McLean held strong and showcased immense composure for a rookie, setting the Phillies down in order to escape the jam and preserve the shutout.

After the game, the team had nothing but great things to say.

“All I can say is, ‘wow, ‘” Carlos Mendoza said postgame.

From a player’s perspective, it was just as impressive.

“He’s a stud,” Mark Vientos said. 

“That’s one of the best starts I’ve seen him have. It was really incredible,” raved Hayden Senger.

McLean’s first three starts of his career have been fabulous. His ERA sits at 0.89, and even his expected ERA still lies in the top five percent of the league. His strikeout percentage is near the top of the league as well, and he is forcing hitters to hit ground balls just under 70 percent of the time.

Additionally, he joins David Peterson as the only Mets starters to throw in the eighth inning this year.

Now, this sample size is well below the qualified stat line. He has only thrown 20 innings, but it can’t be overstated that Nolan McLean has injected life into this Mets team, helping power them to a sweep of their division rivals.

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