Mustachioed McLean evens up series in Toronto
The Mets end their losing skid in Toronto win a victory. Plus, the McLean-Torrens battery appears fully juiced.
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets evened their series with Toronto, shutting out the defending AL Champs 3-0 (box)
A mustachioed Nolan McLean looked fully back to normal, holding the Blue Jays scoreless over six innings on five hits and two walks, striking out seven
Both DH Francisco Álvarez and C Luis Torrens hit solo homers, with McLean praising the latter’s game-calling
2B Brett Baty also got in on the scoring action with a sac-fly in the ninth to bring in an insurance run in CF A.J. Ewing
Ewing went hitless until the ninth, but made his late single count by reaching second on a wild pickoff attempt, then taking third on an Álvarez groundout and ultimately putting himself in position to score
3B Bo Bichette logged his first Rogers Centre hit as a visiting player; he had a better day than his 1-for-4 would suggest, with several nice defensive stops including two in the final frame
LHP Brooks Raley, RHP Luke Weaver, and RHP Devin Williams threw three scoreless innings in relief, with Williams picking up his 12th save of the season
Today is officially MLB deferment day, otherwise known as Bobby Bonilla Day – Bonilla will receive $1.193M from the Mets once a year on July 1st through the year 2035
Injury Updates 🏥
RHP Clay Holmes (fractured right fibula) started playing catch last month and will throw his first bullpen later this week; he’ll need something similar to a Spring Training ramp-up before he’s ready for activation
OF Luis Robert Jr. (herniated disc) will need at least a week on his rehab assignment in Syracuse, maybe more, but seems to be tracking towards a July return
INF Jorge Polanco (left Achilles bursitis) went hitless in the first game of his restarted rehab assignment in Syracuse; he will be evaluated daily and will DH exclusively upon his return
Play of the Game ⭐️
Many a ball-knower have dubbed Luis Torrens “the best backup catcher in baseball” — the Mets certainly think so — and last night, he lived up to the title.
After calling six smooth innings for Nolan McLean, Torrens stepped up to the plate with one out in the top of the seventh, the Mets clinging to a 1-0 lead. He worked Toronto reliever Mason Fluharty to a 2-2 count, then promptly smoked a cutter over the right field fence and into the Mets’ bullpen.
Who’s Hot? 🥵
Luke Weaver has not allowed a run over his last 24 innings
Bo Bichette is hitting .311/.348/.475 with two homers, four doubles and six RBI in his last 15 games
Who’s Not? 🥶
Carson Benge is hitting .219/.265/.219 just two RBI and eight strikeouts in his last seven games
Jared Young is hitting just .171/.244/.317 with seven hits, two homers, five RBI, and 11 strikeouts in his last 15 games
The Just Mets Podcast 🎙️
ICYMI: Rich and Andrew went on the pod to cover another losing week of Mets baseball and the ‘departure’ of Carlos Mendoza, with a preview of the week ahead against the Blue Jays and Braves.
SUBSCRIBE: YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Down on the Farm 🌾
CF Luis Robert Jr. (Triple-A, rehab): 1-for-2, 1 BB
PH/DH MJ Melendez (Triple-A): 1-for-2, HR, R, 2 RBI
LF Nick Morabito (No. 10 prospect, Triple-A): 3-for-5, 2B
C Chris Suero (No. 13 prospect, Double-A): 2-for-4, 2B, 2 R, SB
2B Mitch Voit (No. 5 prospect, High-A): 2-for-5, HR, 3 RBI, 2 K
LHP Daviel Hurtado (High-A): 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K
BOX SCORES
Single-A STL | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR
Today’s Game 🗓
Match-up: Mets (36-50) vs. Blue Jays (40-46)
Where: Rogers Centre — Toronto, ON
Starters: RHP Freddy Peralta (5-6, 4.53 ERA) vs. RHP Braydon Fisher (3-3, 3.48 ERA)
When: 3:07 PM EDT
Where to Watch: SNY
All Hail Mustache McLean ✍️
After a not-so-great outing against the Cubs last week (which itself came on the heels of arguably his best start of the season), it was reassuring to see the “rookie” Nolan McLean get right back in the saddle on Tuesday night.
Over six shutout innings, McLean was as sharp as he’s been all season – both interim manager Andy Green and McLean himself acknowledged as much. In postgame comments, Green commented on the command McLean had over his curveball; McLean added that being able to land the sweeper early made the sinker play better, which therefore allowed him and Torrens to just “mix-and-match” different types of fastballs throughout the night.
His pitch chart illustrates those points nicely:
No matter what pitch he was throwing, McLean was frequently able to fulfill his goal of landing his offspeed stuff for strikes. He was getting those strikes both on swings and on the edges: he got 11 called strikes on the sweeper and sinker, while his four-seamer and curveball elicited seven whiffs themselves. Between all his weapons, McLean finished his evening with a 30% called strike-and-whiff rate (CSW%) – his season rate was 25.5% entering Tuesday’s game.
Looking a little closer at his matchups and pitch maps, I noticed a few interesting things about his pitch selection and placement:
He didn’t start using the cutter until the fourth inning; once he did, he essentially threw it to the same location every time. Save for one thrown way above the zone, McLean placed four of his five cutters in the same spot on the first base edge of the zone. He also threw four of those five cutters to Daulton Varsho and Ernie Clement, two of Toronto’s best hitters, saving the fifth for Alejandro Kirk, another vet. None of that feels coincidental.
He threw one slider all night, and it was to the most experienced hitter in Toronto’s lineup. George Springer was the unlucky recipient of McLean’s only slider, which came in his second at-bat. After grounding out on a first-pitch fastball in the Jays’ opening plate appearance, McLean opened Springer’s next time up with two sinkers in the top of the zone to work a 1-1 count. He then froze Springer with a called-strike fastball low and inside before getting him to wave at a slider away. Textbook.
He bullied Sean Keys. In what was just the fledgling first baseman’s second Major League game McLean gave Toronto’s freshest face a rude wake-up call, treating him to three completely different, totally unpredictable plate appearances. Each one showed off a different side of McLean’s arsenal — he spammed the rookie with offspeed stuff, then showed off a little bit of everything across the zone, then got him to line out on a first-pitch fastball… once again on the edge of the zone.
In short… it seemed like he was having fun. And that’s the sort of stuff you should see from a pitcher (and catcher) who feel good about what they’re working with.
Can’t blame ‘em for feeling good when his stuff was blending this well:
Take a good look at this pitch map — McLean’s command was dialed in last night. That he was able to fill the zone this consistently, with these three pitches all entering the zone on different flight paths, further reinforces how confident he was in his repertoire last night.
It’s of little surprise, then, that ‘confidence’ was a recurring theme in yesterday’s post-game commentary.
After the game, both McLean and Torrens spoke on how confident they both were in the execution of the game plan and McLean’s pitch repertoire in general. That confidence was apparent quickly, and it persisted through the bullpen as all of Brooks Raley, Luke Weaver and Devin Williams sustained the shutout. Weaver, in particular, looked confident as ever in his stuff, using a little of all his tools to put up a clean inning.
But from McLean, in particular, that confidence is more essential than it is encouraging. For a player with such sky-high expectations entering his first full big league season, it hasn’t exactly been the smoothest ride for McLean since his fairy tale 2025 cup of coffee reached its last drop. Mere weeks ago, he delivered the two worst performances of his career back-to-back. Set against the backdrop of this unbearable Mets season with half the Opening Day rotation either on the shelf, demoted, or traded, the stakes really are exceptionally high.
Given the unlikelihood of an extension for Freddy Peralta and the uncertainty around Clay Holmes and the rest of this starting staff, the Mets really need McLean to prove that he can handle the pressure of anchoring an MLB rotation. Starts like these last few (yes, even that two-homer day against the Cubs) demonstrate that he can.
Pressure makes diamonds, as they say. And for the handful of stinkers he’s turned out this year, he’s also pulled out a couple of gems.
No reason to doubt he’ll give us plenty more.
Around the League 🚩
The Red Sox and Nationals came to blows at Fenway Park after Willson Contreras took exception to Cade Cavalli telling him to ‘sit down, boy’ following a strikeout; Washington won 8-1 (MLB.com)
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts became the fastest manager to 1,000 wins in MLB history with a 9-3 victory over the A’s (MLB.com)
Tigers LHP Tarik Skubal stymied the Yankees, issuing nine strikeouts over six innings while allowing just two runs (one earned) on one hit, setting the stage for a 9-3 rout
Phillies LHP Cristopher Sánchez continued his stellar season with seven scoreless innings and nine strikeouts, powering a 8-0 shutout of the Pirates
Rangers RHP Jacob deGrom looked like his old Cy Young self against the Guardians, allowing just two runs over six innings while striking out nine in a 4-2 win
Rays OF Junior Caminero homered in his fifth straight game as Tampa Bay won their sixth straight, 10-4 over the Royals