McLean’s Bad Start Is A Serious Momentum-Killer For Mets As Brief Win Streak Ends

The New York Mets are trying to build momentum to get back to the .500 mark and save their season, but last night the player who kept them from doing it was a major surprise. Starter Nolan McLean has had all kinds of success during his brief career with the Mets, but last night he finally had a truly bad start.  

In some ways it came at the worst possible time. The Mets were coming off a high that had them taking two of three games against the New York Yankees, then surviving a grueling extra-innings battle against the Washington Nationals that finally ended when they broke through with a 10-run 12th inning to post a 16-7 win. 

McLean got hit hard, giving up nine runs, six of them earned, and it happened in part because the Nationals took a very different approach against the rookie right-hander. Normally McLean uses his impressive array of pitches to set up hitters for strikeouts, but last night the Bats went on the attack. 

“They were ultra aggressive, especially the first time through,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said in a followup piece written by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. “You look at pretty much every batter there, they were hacking first pitch. They were looking hard, whether it was the sinker, the cutter, 1-0, they were aggressive. Balls found holes. They attacked him.”

McLean was able to compensate later in his 5-2/3 inning start by just throwing a lot of quality first-pitch strikes, but he was clearly surprised by what was happening. His defense also let him down, committing a couple of key errors behind him. 

“They made some pretty good swings on some decent pitches,” McLean said. “Obviously I didn’t have the best stuff, but that’s no excuse for not going out and competing better than I did.”

The rookie starter also had to grind his way through this one to save the Mets bullpen, which has been overextended in the last couple of games. There’s plenty of risk in that given McLean’s value to the franchise and the Mets’ future, but the Mets had no choice.

“Obviously, the bullpen’s been getting after it these last couple days,” McLean said. “But my job every time, whether we have a full bullpen or not, is to go out there and to get at least seven. So I’m disappointed I didn’t do that.”

The most important aspect of this is still to come, however. McLean has never had to do the kinds of adjustments he’ll be faced with next time around, which will be Sunday against the Miami Marlins, and it will be interesting to see what changes he makes going forward.