CLEVELAND — Nolan McLean’s early turbulence Thursday appeared as if it would just be a footnote in another strong start.
But the Mets rookie allowed two straight singles with one out in the fifth inning and threw three consecutive balls to Nathaniel Lowe before finally firing a strike.
The next pitch was a four-seam fastball that Lowe crushed into the right field seats.
It left McLean with the distaste of his worst outing since May 25. He allowed five earned runs on eight hits with three walks and eight strikeouts over five innings in the 13-6 victory over the Guardians at Progressive Field.
“Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t able to locate the fastball that well today,” McLean said. “I always talk about off-speed [pitches] for strikes, and that was pretty much the only thing I had going for me today.”
The outing was McLean’s first in his past nine in which he failed to complete at least six innings. The eight hits he surrendered tied a career high.
McLean ran his strikeout total this season to 213. It’s the fifth most in franchise history in a pitcher’s first 31 starts, behind Dwight Gooden (276), Matt Harvey (234), Noah Syndergaard (221) and Kodai Senga (219).
McLean’s day started rough enough: He faced eight batters in the first inning and surrendered two runs on three singles and two walks.
“He was in typical Nolan cruise control there for a while, spinning the baseball really well, mixing really well,” interim manager Andy Green said, referring to the 12 straight batters McLean retired before the Guardians began their rally in the fifth. “And then that fifth inning, I know he didn’t want to fall behind 3-0. Falling behind 3-0 to good hitters puts you in some tough spots.”
Adding to his challenge was facing a complete lineup of left-handed hitters.
“Getting ahead in the count against anybody, righty or lefty, always helps,” McLean said. “If I just played a little bit better ahead in the count, it could have been a much better outing for me.”
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But McLean could savor the three-game sweep.
“I think finding multiple ways to score like we did today, whether it was homers or grinding out at-bats and making them walk us in, that’s really cool to see,” McLean said. “Ideally, a better start out of me could help, too, but I appreciate the offense keeping me in it.”
