Nolan McLeandelivered a brilliant start, but after exiting with two runners on base in the seventh, the bullpen couldn't hold a one-run lead as the Mets fell 7-1 to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday night at Citi Field.
The young right-hander was tremendous through six scoreless frames protecting a 1-0 lead, but was charged with two runs as part of a four-run seventh inning as Luke Weaver had his first bad outing of the season and spoiled what had been a dominant showing. McLean's final line: 6.1 innings, two runs on three hits and two walks with eight strikeouts on 100 pitches (64 strikes).
McLean lost the rematch of the WBC final in what had been a real pitchers' duel as the D-backs’ Eduardo Rodriguez took the win, allowing one run over 6.0 innings on five hits and two walks, thanks to three strikeouts and holding the Mets to 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position. And on a cold night, the Mets’ bats were colder, with just one hit (a single) over the final four innings.
New York fell to 7-6 on the year as Arizona improved to that same mark by taking the last two games of the series in Queens.
Here are the takeaways...
- The final numbers really don't tell just how good McLean was to start the game. He got three-straight groundballs to the right side of the infield in a 12-pitch first that saw him throw 10 sinkers to good effect against the left-handed bats at the top of Arizona’s lineup. Jose Fernandez, the first righty McLean faced, got jammed on a 3-1 sinker that was off the inside corner but muscled it for a one-out double in the second. McLean stranded him, getting ex-Met James McCann fishing on a curveball and Alek Thomas to bounce out.
McLean made it five straight retired, adding a strikeout looking as he froze Jorge Barrosa on a sinker that saw the visitors lose an ABS challenge. A leadoff walk in the fourth ended that run, but was erased on a 1-6-3 double-play before McLean froze lefty Adrian Del Castillo with a sinker that moved over a foot right onto the inside corner.
The 24-year-old added two more strikeouts in the fifth on six-straight pitches, first bambooziling McCann on a sweeper away and freezing Thomas on a sinker on the inside corner. A bloop single off the end of the bat opened the sixth and McLean dug deep as he battled and won. A flyout to center, a strikeout looking as the curveball at the knees wiped out Arizona’s last challenge, and then another nasty sinker in and at the knees got a roar from the right-hander as he bounded off the mound with his seventh strikeout on his 85th pitch of the game.
McLean’s night came to an end in the seventh as he walked the leadoff man and gave up a one-out single up the middle, a liner off the end of Fernandez’s bat. And that proved costly.
Through three starts of the season, McLean has allowed six runs (five earned) on seven hits, six walks, and one hit batter with 20 strikeouts (16.2 innings).
- Weaver fell behind pinch-hitter Gabriel Moreno, before a low-and-away changeup was driven off the wall in right field over Brett Baty's head for an RBI double. The ball was hit hard and carried on Baty might have been caught by a more experienced outfielder. The baserunners seemed surprised it got over Baty's head as both were ready to tag up on the play.
Arizona had the lead when Mark Vientos spiked his throw home after fielding a sharp grounder to first. After a sac fly, Barrosa turned on an inside fastball and yanked it into the right-field corner for an RBI triple to make it a four-run seventh.
- Luis Robert Jr. gave the Mets an early 1-0 lead, turning a 2-0 cutter on the inside corner for a towering 412-foot bomb to right field. Robert came into the game with six hits in his last 14 at-bats (all singles) before just smoking the Rodriguez offering 109.8 mph off the bat.
After walking his second time up, his 11th free pass of the year, Robert got caught looking at a sinker at the knees with runners on the corners and one out in the fifth, losing the Mets’ first ABS challenge in the process. He finished 1-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.
- Francisco Lindor entered the night in a funk, 7-for-47 with three extra-base hits, zero RBI, and a 77 wRC+ through 12 games. He went hitless in three at-bats against Rodriguez before muscling a ball off his hands into right for a two-out single off reliever Taylor Clarke.
- Bo Bichette, entered the game 5-for-13 against Rodriguez with a .923 OPS, lofted a two-out single into center with two down in the third. He added a walk and finished 1-for-3.
- Marcus Semien, after striking out his first time up, lined a leadoff single into left to start the home half of the fourth, but was left out there. He finished 1-for-4.
- Baty, the lone lefty in the Mets’ lineup, hustled out an infield hit to first with two down in the second and then stole second base, but was left stranded. He was 1-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Vientos, who made a nice play at first to end the first, looked to have a two-out hit with two men on in the third, but second baseman Ketel Marte was perfectly placed to snag the liner. He stranded runners at the corners to end the fifth, with a groundout to third. He went hitless in four at-bats with a strikeout.
- Tyrone Taylor, after getting the benefit of the doubt on a close 2-2 pitch, ripped a double that one-hopped the wall in left to start the fifth. He went 1-for-2 before being lifted for pinch-hitter Jared Young in the seventh. (Young grounded out.)
- Francisco Alvarez, who was DHing, caught looking at a good Rodriguez changeup that just caught the corner low and away and flied out to the edge of the track in right on a well-struck ball in the fourth. He went 0-for-4.
- Luis Torrens went 0-for-4, including a hard-hit liner right at the left fielder.
- Luis Garcia got touched up in the eighth with a double into the right field corner and an RBI double that one-hopped the wall in left, sandwiched around a walk. After a run-scoring groundout, Moreno hammed a Garcia sweeper into the gap in left-center for his second RBI double in as many at-bats.
Richard Lovelady closed things out by getting all five batters he faced.
Highlights
What's next
The Mets open a three-game set againstJeff McNeil and the Athletics.
Clay Holmes (1.42 ERA over 12.2 innings) gets the ball against right-hander J.T. Ginn (5.14 ERA in 7.0 innings) for Friday's 7:10 p.m. first pitch.
