NEW YORK -- Mets right-hander Nolan McLean should be buying outfielders Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing dinner, because their throwing arms are the reason he lasted six innings and the Mets picked up a 2-1 victory over the Padres at Citi Field.
The way he was throwing in the early going, there was a strong possibility McLean was going to have his shortest outing of the season. In the first two innings, the Padres had seven straight hitters reach base, but only one run scored.
“He was a little lucky. He was clearly not settled today,” interim manager Andy Green said about McLean.
Why just one run? The Padres attempted to score three times, and were thrown out at home on each instance, twice by Benge and once by Ewing.
Let’s start with Benge. In the first inning, Benge threw out two runners on back-to-back plays, becoming the first player in franchise history to throw out two runners at home in the same inning.
With runners on first and second and one out, Ty France singled to right-center field. Jake Cronenworth attempted to score from second, but he was easily thrown out at the plate by Benge, whose throw clocked in at 99.9 mph.
Jackson Merrill followed with another single out to Benge in right, and apparently Padres third-base coach Bob Henley didn’t figure it out yet. He waved Manny Machado around from second, and San Diego's third baseman met the same fate as Cronenworth, with Benge's 103.9 mph throw beating him to the plate by more than a few feet.
In the following inning, Cronenworth singled to left and Ewing threw a one-hop strike to catcher Francisco Alvarez to get a sliding Xander Bogaerts to end the inning.
“That fires me up,” McLean said “Not only did it save team runs, but it saved me runs, as well. And then A.J. doing it later on in the game is just awesome.”
McLean settled down after that second frame, retiring 12 of the next 15 hitters he faced. Green thought about taking McLean out of the game in the fifth after he walked Machado and France with two outs. McLean buckled down, however, and induced Merrill to fly out to center fielder Luis Robert Jr. to end the inning.
“There were some pretty unlucky hits early from a how-hard-they-hit-it standpoint,” McLean said “But overall stuff felt pretty good. I had a hard time getting a grip on the ball early on in the game. I was able to find it a little bit later, which helped me get through it.”