NEW YORK -- At various points this season, Nolan McLean has been splendid, exceptional, incredible. On Sunday, he was something less anticipated: mortal.
The Rockies recorded five hits and two walks off McLean in five-plus innings of a 3-1 loss to Colorado in Game 1 of a doubleheader at Citi Field. That marked the highest number of baserunners McLean has allowed in an outing since March 29, his first start of the season, when he also put seven men on base.
The good news for McLean was that he only allowed one run while he was on the mound. The bad news was that another unearned run scored after he departed, putting him on the hook for a loss.
“It’s where we’re at,” McLean said. “We’re going to fight like crazy every day to try to get back on track and do everything we can.”
After allowing the first two batters of the sixth inning to reach on a double and a walk, McLean induced the ground ball he needed to squash that rally. But upon fielding the ball, first baseman Mark Vientos fired it into baserunner Mickey Moniak’s back, loading the bases with no outs.
At that point, manager Carlos Mendoza removed McLean, who was at 91 pitches. Reliever Huascar Brazobán entered and retired his first batter on double play that allowed the go-ahead run to score.
Through six starts, McLean holds a 2.55 ERA. At the time of his departure, he ranked second in the Majors with 45 strikeouts, trailing only Jacob Misiorowski of the Brewers (51). McLean also recorded his 100th career strikeout during the game.
“Overall, pretty happy with the outing,” McLean said. “There was obviously some traffic there in a couple innings, but I felt like I did a good job minimizing damage.”
His 102 career strikeouts are tied with Matt Harvey for third in Mets history by a pitcher through 14 career appearances, trailing only Dwight Gooden (107) and Nolan Ryan (103).