– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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NEW YORK — In the latest “biggest game of the season” for the New York Mets, they handed the ball to Nolan McLean, the man with the least amount of Major League experience for New York … yet, almost evidently, the man with the most nerve to handle the big occasion.
McLean, making his third career start in the big leagues, threw eight shutout innings against one of the top offenses in baseball as the Mets completed a three-game sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies with a 6-0 victory on Wednesday evening. Mark Vientos drove in three runs, which included a two-run home run in the seventh inning.
The sweep, which was necessary for the Mets if it wanted to harbor any hopes at winning the division, moves New York within four games of the Phillies for first place in the National League East with 29 contests remaining.
McLean becomes the first Mets pitcher to earn a win in each of his first three appearances, and did so by allowing just four hits while striking out six in those eight masterful innings. He held Philadelphia to just two hits in the first seven innings before allowing back-to-back singles to Alec Bohm and Max Kepler. But the rookie bore down to get the next three hitters, and when McLean himself jumped off the mound to field a soft grounder by Harrison Bader before throwing him out at first, the sellout Citi Field crowd became electric once again, given juice by the rookie after a rough couple of months for the team that has seen the team’s playoff position go from a sure thing to much more of a bumpy ride.
In those three starts, McLean is pitching to the tune of an 0.89 ERA.
“All I can say is wow,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said of McLean after the game.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Wednesday evening’s game, with photos taken by Philadelphia-area based photographer Michael Lindholm. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 28 pictures in total.
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