Nolan McLean is bringing calm to a chaotic pitching staff
The rookie right-hander allowed no runs over his final six innings as the offense did the rest to secure a series win in Detroit
What’s up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets beat the Tigers again on Tuesday, this time by a score of 12-5 in Detroit (box)
Nolan McLean got off to a rocky start but quickly settled down to allow just two runs over six innings
Pete Alonso hit two home runs, Juan Soto also hit another homer, and Luis Torrens hit a three-run home run to highlight the scoring
The Mets scored four more runs with two outs on Monday and went 5-for-11 with RISP
Tuesday’s game marked the the 13th time this season they have scored at least 10 runs in a game and won, with seven of those games coming since August 1
Roster Moves 📰
OF Tyrone Taylor (hamstring retro to 8/30) placed on the injured list
LHP Brandon Waddell optioned to Triple-A Syracuse
INF/OF Jared Young recalled from Triple-A Syracuse
RHP Kevin Herget recalled from Triple-A Syracuse
Injury Updates 🏥
OF Jesse Winker (back strain) returned to New York for additional testing - his season is likely over
C Francisco Álvarez (fractured pinky, UCL tear in thumb) went 1-for-4 with a run scored and two strikeouts for Triple-A Syracuse on Tuesday - he caught the entire game
OF José Siri (fractured tibia) went 1-for-5 with a run scored but with four strikeouts for Triple-A Syracuse on Tuesday
RHP Tylor Megill (elbow strain) allowed three runs on six hits over 4 IP for Triple-A Syracuse on Tuesday
Playoff Race 🏁
The Mets were able to gain 1/2 game on the Phillies for first place in the NL East on Tuesday, as Philadelphia was idle. The Mets are still 5.5 games behind the Phillies, although should they finish in a tie, the Mets would win the NL East by virtue of the fact they won the season series against the Phillies:
Meanwhile, the Reds lost to the Blue Jays on Tuesday but the Giants beat the Rockies. So, the Mets increased their lead over the Reds but did not gain ground on the Giants, who now have the same record as the Reds. But the Mets pulled to within one game of the Padres for the second Wild Card after they lost to the Orioles and reduced their magic number over the Reds and Giants to 19:
Per Fangraphs, the Mets have a 96.3% chance of qualifying for the playoffs.
Who’s Hot? 🥵
In his last five games, Juan Soto he has hit .563 (9-for-16) with five home runs, 12 RBI and six walks. Since May 30, Soto is hitting .283/.431/.615 (1.046 OPS) with six doubles, a triple, 29 home runs and 66 RBI with 81 hits, 72 walks, 20 stolen bases, and 72 runs scored
Over his last 83 games, Brandon Nimmo is hitting .297/.368/.487 with 18 doubles, 14 home runs and 51 RBI with 11 stolen bases, 31 walks, 94 hits and 53 runs scored
Since August 1, Pete Alonso is hitting .295/.331/.612 with eight doubles, 11 home runs and 31 RBI with 38 hits and 22 runs scored
Over his last 23 games, Luis Torrens is hitting .292/.333/.477 with three doubles, three home runs and 15 RBI with 19 hits and nine runs scored
Stats of the Day 📊
Nolan McLean became the first pitcher to win the first four starts of his career since Chase Anderson did so with Arizona in 2014. He is only the sixth pitcher this century to accomplish the feat and the 25th to do so in baseball history. He surpassed Tylor Megill, Matt Harvey, Dwight Gooden and Dick Selma for the most strikeouts through a pitcher’s first four career starts in Mets history (28)
Juan Soto now has 117 games with one home run and one walk before his age-27 season, extending his lead for the most such games in baseball history. He is now just 11 walks shy of John Olerud’s single season record of 125
Pete Alonso now ha 26 multi-home run games, the most in Mets history
Play of the Game ⭐️
Luis Torrens’ opposite-field three-run home run changed both the tenor and the tone of Tuesday’s game, highlighting a five-run fourth inning for the Mets to give them a 6-2 lead and send the offense on its way once again.
Down on the Farm 🌾
OF Ryan Clifford (no. 8 prospect, Triple-A): 2-for-3, RBI, BB, K
OF Carson Benge (no. 1 prospect, Triple-A): 1-for-3, 2 RBI
LHP Jonathan Santucci (no. 14 prospect, Double-A): 6 IP, 1 R, 6 H, 6 K
OF Yohairo Cuevas (High-A): 2-for-4, 2B, RBI, R
INF Mitch Voit (No. 9 Prospect, Single-A): 3-for-3, HR (1st pro HR), 2 BB, 3 RBI, 4 R
BOX SCORES
Single-A STL | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR
Today’s Game 🗓️
Match-up: Mets (75-64) at Tigers (80-60)
Where: Comerica Park — Detroit, MI
Starters: RHP Clay Holmes (11-6, 3.60 ERA) vs. RHP Casey Mize (12-5, 3.95 ERA)
When: 1:10 PM EDT
Where to Watch: SNY
Nolan McLean’s presence is calmly refreshing ✍️
I know Tuesday’s game finished somewhat ugly thanks to some poor pitching, but that’s just a day ending in Y for this club at this point. Somewhere along the way, someone is going to burp up runs for this team. It’s just the way it is for the Mets at this point in the 2025 season.
Fortunately though, those runs really didn’t matter outside of Mets manager Carlos Mendoza being forced to use Ryne Stanek in a blowout turned a little interesting on Tuesday.
It was an otherwise refreshing game for the Mets on the mound thanks to Nolan McLean who once again showed some guts against one of the league’s elite teams to keep them at bay. He got off to a rough beginning in this one, but McLean quickly made an adjustment and didn’t allow another run after the two he surrendered in the first inning.
It just goes to show how good his stuff is, but also how mature and poised he is as well. Often times, rookie starters melt down and are unable to pivot after a team gets to him early. But McLean looked like he had been doing this for 15 years on Tuesday after he was able to get his act together and shut the door to earn the fourth win of a career which is just being born.
It’s funny - when McLean pitches, it feels like a day off for the Mets. There are almost no adventures out there, he’s able to go deep into these games (by today’s standards) and just offers a jolt of calm energy this club badly needs, considering how bad the starters have been over the last near-three months of play.
We talk a lot about the offense, and yes this is the best we have seen a Met offense go in a very long time. But teams only go as far as the starting pitching takes them. After all, look at how good the Mets offense was to produce an 11-17 record in August.
Right?
It’s unfair for the manager and unfair for the bullpen to have to mitigate so many short and ineffective starts from the veteran portion of this starting rotation. They didn’t build this rotation, didn’t build this roster, and yet they have to sit down at the poker table with a pair of deuces mostly every day at this point and hope they can simply outmaneuver the other team, whether it’s with savvy base running, strong relief work, or simply by out-slugging them. Most of the time, it doesn’t work and can’t work because, again, it’s all about the starting pitching, and the Mets have gotten none of that in large measure since June 13.
From some high-priced veterans at that.
That’s why McLean’s presence just feels so calmly refreshing. For me personally, and it may be blind faith, but I just have this confidence in the youthful energy McLean is bringing to the table. Yes, his stuff is elite, but his poise and mental strength are intangibles I can only wish other pitchers had, especially when they’re in a baseball crisis out there.
That poise and maturity are a big reason McLean is making history out there in these early career starts. Now he just has to stay healthy.
As for the offense, at the very least, it is very entertaining and fun to watch.
Ever since the Mets clearly shifted their approach at the plate, which is to attack fastballs rather than being picky, waiting for a hittable breaking ball, or whatever it was they were doing which was maddening, the offense is not only living up to expectations, but exploding past them.
Leading the charge of course is the top of the order in Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo, Juan Soto, and Pete Alonso. Soto is now of course entering the conversation for the National League MVP, and he kept up his end of the bargain last night with two more hits, including a homer, a walk, and a stolen base. And Alonso took full advantage of Soto’s recent invincibility with two homers of his own.
But as I said above, it was Luis Torrens’ power which changed the complexion of this game. His doink off the foul pole served as a complete momentum shift in favor of the Mets, and they just took off from there. He has unquestionably answered the call in Francisco Alvarez’s absence and has been a big part of this renaissance at the plate for the Mets.
I have been asked a million times over the last week why the Mets are able to look like champions against the league’s best (Phillies, Tigers) but roll over and die against the league’s worst (Marlins). The short answer is, I don’t know. The longer answer is, well, look at those games against the Marlins and what plagued them. It wasn’t the offense - they hit just as well in that series as they have for the last five weeks.
It was the pitching and defense, which was just abhorrent outside of Jonah Tong’s debut game.
That’s the part that worries me about the Mets down the stretch. Outside of today, the Phillies, Cubs, and Padres, the Mets have a generally soft run to the finish line. But their pitching has been among the worst in all of baseball for about three months. That means they’re likely to struggle against literally anyone they play unless they (quickly) get their house in order on the mound. As the Marlins series proved, they’re not going to be able to out-slug top-to-bottom incompetence on the mound no matter who they’re playing. And as well as McLean has pitched, as exciting as Tong is, and as well as Brandon Sproat could pitch if they promote him, it is completely unrealistic to rely on three top prospects arriving in August or later to carry them to the promised land.
Even if they survive 162 games, this won’t play on the mound once the tournament starts. They will need their veterans to start posting up, and quickly.
Around the League 🚩
Shohei Ohtani hit his 100th home run of his career, but the Dodgers lost to the Pirates 9-7
Kyle Tucker hit a three-run home run in the Cubs 4-3 win over the Braves
Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit two home runs in the Yankees 7-1 rout of the Astros
Jo Adell hit his 32nd home run of the year in the Angels 5-1 win over the Royals
McLean was impressive as he started without his best stuff, battled and still completed 6 innings. Reminiscent of a young guy who came up in 1967.
Soto is funny. When he was up against Paddock after the first pitch he smiled. It was like he knew the guy didn’t have the stuff to get him out and the next pitch hit it out of the park. I’ve seen him a couple of other times this season and I guess that’s how elite he is. He may as well just pointed to the seats because that’s what it seemed to me he was doing. I even told my wife after I said watch this and he cranked it. Watching him closely this season the way he bats is different than anyone else from what I’ve observed in baseball. He almost crouches to his backside and uses that to explode through the ball. Everyone else steps and uses the torque through their midsection to generate power. He is a different animal and I think we are very lucky he’s a Met forever ( unless he gets traded) which I highly doubt. Can’t say enough about McClean. The kid was searching for it almost the whole game and still retired the last 14 batters he faced. That has all the makings of a number 1 in my book. I don’t care about the K’s ( although I love them) but the grit to muscle through limiting the damage and keeping the team in it is an attribute not many pitchers have. They may all want to do it but being able to do it is another story. I think this kid has it. Time will tell but the early results are pointing to yes. Let’s see what Holmes can do today. The pen is rested so 5 I guess is fine. LGM