McLean Proving Himself To Be Mets Ace

 

Nolan McLean firing one by Houston's Jeremy Pena in the sixth inning on Saturday afternoon. Photo by Jason Schott.

Nolan McLean entered the season with a case to be viewed as the ace of the Mets rotation, and as the season hits the home stretch, it looks like case closed.

After being a highlight down the stretch last season for the Mets, McLean earned such a reputation that he was tapped to pitch the Championship Game of the World Baseball Classic for the United States team.

McLean has persevered through not just the adversity the Mets have gone through as a team, but himself, as his ERA (earned run average) was 4.21 on May 31.

On Saturday, McLean turned in another superb outing, as he earned his 10th win of the season, with a winning record of 10-8, and he lowered his ERA to 3.06, as the Mets beat the Houston Astros, 6-2.

Houston, who won the opener of the series on Friday night, came out swinging in this one, as Jeremy Pena opened the game with a double, took third base on a throwing error by left fielder Brett Baty, and came into score on a sacrifice fly by Yordan Alvarez.

Isaac Paredes then walked, but McLean got Jose Altuve to line out to third base and then Daulton Varsho to fly out to center.

McLean then got the first two outs of the second inning before allowing a walk to the eighth-place hitter, Nick Allen, and he got ex-Red Sox catcher Christian Vazquez to ground out to third to end the second inning.

That Vazquez grounder began a stretch for McLean in which he retired 11 in a row before Alvarez got a one-out single to center field in the sixth inning, by which point the Mets were ahead 6-2.

McLean then got Paredes to pop out in foul territory to first base, and Altuve struck out, which really got the crowd going.

For the first time since June 17 at Cincinnati, McLean pitched into the sixth inning, and he worked around a lead-off walk to Varsho by getting Christian Walker to ground into a force out before striking out Taylor Trammell and Allen to end his afternoon.

McLean's final line was superb: 7 innings, 1 run, 0 earned runs, 3 walks, 4 strikeouts.

It was the second straight outing McLean did not allow an earned run, as he threw six shutout innings in Chicago against the White Sox last Sunday, August 23, as he only allowed one hit and four walks, while striking out six.

This was the 12th time in his last 13 starts that McLean has pitched at least six innings, with the lone exception being when he went five innings in Cleveland, a game in which he still earned the victory in the Mets' 13-6 win. McLean has also allowed two or less earned runs in 14 of his last 16 outings

Heading into Saturday's start, McLean had just a 2.37 ERA since May 31, as he only allowed 23 earned runs in 87.1 innings and notched 93 strikeouts. This was the fifth-best ERA in the National League in that time span, and the 93 K's we're 10th-most in the NL in the same period.

One key to McLean's success this season has been his use of the sinker, which he has used 32.8 percent of the time (through August 23), compared to 27.9% last season. Heading into Saturday's game, McLean's sinker has produced a 23-run value, the fourth-highest run value on any pitch in the Major Leagues this season, and the highest mark on any sinker this season, according to Baseball Savant.