Nolan McLean’s Reset Gave the Mets Time to Win

At the beginning of the sixth inning Wednesday night, Nolan McLean had just watched the Mets’ 2-0 lead vanish. Texas had built its tying rally with three singles and a walk in the fifth at Globe Life Field, turning a comfortable-looking game into a contest that could still go either way.

McLean’s answer was six consecutive outs. He retired Corey Seager and Josh Jung on groundouts in the sixth, then ended the inning when Brandon Nimmo sent a sharp fly ball to left. In the seventh, Ezequiel Duran and Jake Burger each flew out before McLean struck out Nicky Lopez.

That sequence is the center of New York’s 7-2 victory over the Rangers, a game whose final margin was supplied by late home runs but whose shape was preserved by the Mets starter. McLean absorbed the tying rally without allowing it to become a larger inning, then gave New York two more scoreless frames. Texas had finally found a way to get runners moving.

McLean stopped that rally at two runs and kept the next two innings empty.

The fifth inning was not a minor blemish. Brandon Nimmo opened it with a single, and after Ezequiel Duran grounded out, Jake Burger singled home Nimmo. Lopez followed with a single, and Danny Jansen drew a walk that loaded the bases with one out.

Texas had forced McLean into its most difficult stretch of the night, and the game was no longer operating on New York’s preferred terms.

Still, the damage stopped at two runs. Evan Carter’s grounder produced the tying run while also ending Jansen’s advancement at second, leaving Lopez at third and Carter at first. McLean then got Langford to pop out to Francisco Lindor.

The inning showed both sides of his performance: Texas created legitimate traffic, but McLean did enough after the first run scored to prevent the rally from becoming a lead-changing avalanche.

His response was especially valuable because the Mets’ offense did not immediately restore the advantage. The score remained tied through the seventh, meaning McLean’s clean finish mattered even before New York had another lead to protect. His complete line was seven innings, three hits, two earned runs, five strikeouts and one walk on 82 pitches, with 52 strikes.

The official record also credits him with eight groundouts and six flyouts, a useful indication of how consistently he converted plate appearances into outs after the fifth.

The Rangers did not get another hit against him after Lopez’s fifth-inning single. Their best opportunity had already passed, and McLean did not offer a second one. That does not erase the fact that Texas tied the game, nor does one outing establish a larger conclusion about the pitcher.

It does establish something more specific and more important to this game: McLean recovered quickly enough to keep the next scoring swing available to his teammates.

That swing arrived in the eighth. Marcus Semien hit a solo homer off Jacob Latz to put New York ahead 3-2, a narrow lead that existed because McLean had completed seven innings without further trouble. Devin Williams then handled the bottom of the eighth, and Brett Baty’s grand slam in the ninth transformed the one-run game into a lopsided result.

The late offense will dominate the scorecard, quite reasonably. Juan Soto had already supplied a two-run homer in the third, Semien broke the tie, and Baty delivered the emphatic finish. But those swings required time. McLean’s recovery supplied it.

For Texas, the frustrating part is not simply that the Mets eventually hit two more homers. It is that the Rangers’ best rally ended with the game tied, while McLean’s next six outs allowed New York to wait for another chance. McLean left with seven innings completed and the score still level.

After the trouble in the fifth, six straight outs gave New York a clean route to the eighth.

Sources

Official game data

Official game box score