CHICAGO — Nolan McLean is approaching 150 innings for this season following his strong performance Sunday, but his ambitions are much grander.
“I am still behind what I threw last year, so I have got some room to continue to grow and build those innings up,” the Mets rookie said after his team’s 2-1 loss to the White Sox at Rate Field. “Ideally, it’s 200. Every single time you start the season, your goal is to get to 200 innings.”
McLean, at 148 ²/₃ innings, has six starts remaining at most, and it’s unlikely Mets officials will push him extensively late in the season.
McLean pitched 161 ²/₃ innings last season, split between the minor leagues and majors.
On this day he fired six scoreless innings in which he allowed only one hit and walked four batters — he plunked another — with six strikeouts.
It was his third straight start pitching at least six innings while allowing one or no runs.
“Those are good hitters that had really been swinging it well against us all series, having tough at-bats,” interim manager Andy Green said. “I thought he was on the attack all day. Mixed pitches. He was really unpredictable. It was hard to know what he was going to do, so I felt good about what he did today.”
He faced his stiffest challenge in the third, when he walked consecutive batters to load the bases after allowing a two-out single to Sam Antonacci.
The right-hander rebounded to strike out Andrew Benintendi on three pitches.
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“I felt like I made all the pitches I wanted to and ended up walking them,” McLean said of the third-inning jam.
McLean, who has a 3.21 ERA in 26 starts this season, is part of the NL Rookie of the Year discussion, along with teammate Carson Benge.
How much is McLean paying attention to the race?
“Not a ton,” he said. “My job is to go out there and try to put my team in the best position to win. If you control that, good things tend to happen. I think any competitor would like to win the award, but I don’t pay too much attention.”
