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Nolan McLean became the first Met pitcher ever to win his first three starts as the Mets completed a sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies. 

It’s worth going through the play-by-play of McLean’s eight shutout inning performance, where he threw 71 strikes out of 95 pitches, walked nobody, and struck out six. McLean clearly had his frisbee/wiffleball sweeper action going from the jump, striking out Trea Turner to begin the game. Kyle Schwarber grounded out to first. Bryce Harper flew out to left. 

In the second, J.T. Realmuto grounded out to third. Alec Bohm singled, but Max Kepler grounded into a 3-6-3 double play. McLean caught NIck Castellanos looking at strike three to get the first out in the third. Bryson Stott flew out to left. Harrison Bader, that lovable jerk who seems to own the Mets this year, struck out. 

Turner and Schwarber both grounded out to second to start the fourth. Harper struck out. Realmuto flew out to center, Bohm grounded out to short, and Max Kepler struck out in the fifth. Castellanos popped the ball up in foul territory for first baseman Pete Alonso to catch to begin the sixth. Bryson Stott struck out looking. Harrison Bader flew out to Jeff McNeil in center field. (McNeil jumped to make the catch, but he didn’t need to.) 

McLean didn’t look slightly human until the seventh when he faced the opposing lineup for the third time. After Turner grounded out to third and Schwarber grounded out to second (both on 100+ mph batted balls), Harper singled to center (after Harper, like Turner earlier, lost his bat on a pitch.) McLean threw three straight balls to Realmuto, got a generous strike call from home plate ump C.B. Bucknor, then got the Phillies catcher to pop it up for Francisco Lindor to make the squeeze for the third out. Remarkably, his pitch count was only in the seventies.

But in the eighth, Bohm and Kepler hit back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners. Then, to the delight of the 41,893 in attendance, Nick Castellanos flew out to right, where Juan Soto fired a seed to home plate to prevent Alec Bohm from trying to score, and then Bryson Stott flew out to left, where Brandon Nimmo threw it in and Bohm once again didn’t move. Bader hit a 10-footer that McLean cleanly fielded to get the third out. The kid got out of a jam and preserved the shutout. The audience cheered. The dugout gave their kudos. Brooks Raley handled the ninth.

And the Mets scored some runs for McLean. In the third against old chum Taijuan Walker, Brett Baty doubled to left center. Hayden Senger bunted a ball that got by Walker, moving Baty to third and landing Senger at first. Lindor got a ribeye steak singling to right center. Juan Soto followed suit with an RBI base hit of his own to make it 2-0 Mets. Lindor scored on Pete Alonso’s single to left to make it 3-0. With two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Alonso walked, Nimmo singled him to third, and Mark Vientos hit a laser up the middle to give New York a fourth run. Again with two outs but this time in the seventh, Nimmo singled in front of Swaggy V, who hit a no doubt homer to left center off of Tanner Banks to make it 6-0. 

Right now, Nolan McLean is a video game character that you play with a cheat code, and the Mets seemingly own the Phillies. The vibes are, dare I say it, at 2024 levels.

 ***

Or is it? Francisco Alvarez (right thumb sprained UCL)  in his first rehab start for Triple-A Syracuse got hit by a pitch on his left pinkie finger. As of last night he was still being evaluated.

On the other side of the coin, Jesse Winker (back stiffness) surprisingly went from “doing nothing” to starting a rehab assignment with the Low-A St. Lucie Mets along with Jose Siri (broken leg). More on their performances in the minor league section.

Jeff McNeil played center field last night. I’m guessing his shoulder is feeling just fine (enough).

With the win, the Mets now own the tiebreaker over the Phillies in case the NL East ends in a tie. (No more Game 163s to decide a division in MLB.)

Huascar Brazobán got an MRI after he said he had pain in his side. It came back clean, so instead of putting him on the 15-day IL, the Mets demoted him back to Triple-A Syracuse. Kevin Herget took his spot in the Mets bullpen.

Pop quiz: Juan Soto said the following about whom: “He’s literally the leader of this team — I feel like he’s actually the captain of this team.”? Answer below.

Co-hitting coach Eric Chavez is trolling fans on Instagram who wanted him fired. I suppose it wouldn’t help if I calmly responded to his story by pointing out it took his ass long enough to fix the flawed hitting strategy he came up with in the first place?

Dwight Gooden and Clay Holmes interviewed each other, thanks to the fine folks at Cadillac. The conversation was a little awkward, as one might expect when two men have a page-long sheet of questions to ask right in front of them

Old chum Trevor Hildenberger took in a Met game on Tuesday evening.

It was Sesame Street Night at Citi Field. During the SNY pregame show, Elmo himself asked Todd Zeile if the Mets will win the World Series. Zeile hedged, only saying the Mets “could” win it all. 

Soto was talking about…Starling Marte! This is another example of why Francisco Lindor hasn’t been named the captain of the Mets officially - there are a handful of influential dudes in that clubhouse.

The Phillies, as I’m sure you’re aware, lost. The Reds were swept for the first time this season. What a shame, that.

The Triple-A Syracuse Mets (64-64) lost to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Yankees affiliate) 6-1. Before Sean Boyle hit him in the left pinkie, C Francisco Alvarez was 1 for 2 with a double. Justin Hagenman got the loss after allowing four earned runs in four and one third innings. 

The Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies (79-41) fell to the Somerset Patriots (Yankees) 6-5. 3B Jacob Reimer went 2 for 4 with a home run and a double, two runs scored, two RBI, and a strikeout. LHP Jonathan Santucci had a meh start. Like Hagenman, he permitted four earned runs in four and one third innings. He did however only walk one batter while striking out seven.

The High-A Brooklyn Cyclones (70-52) held on to defeat the Hudson Valley Renegades (Yankees) 8-7. 3B Boston Baro went 3 for 5 with two runs scored, an RBI, two stolen bases, and a strikeout. RHP Irving Cota got his first High-A win. He allowed four earned runs on five hits in five innings of work. He walked one and punched out four.

The Low-A St. Lucie Mets (72-49) lost 3-1 to the Lakeland Flying Tigers (Tigers). Jose Siri went 0 for 0 with a run scored, a walk, and he was hit by a pitch. He played five innings in center field. Jesse Winker was the starting designated hitter. He struck out and grounded into a double play. Starter RHP Jonathan Jimenez tossed four shutout innings on three hits, walking three and striking out two.

Five years ago tonight, Amed Rosario hit a walk-off home run for the Mets. At Yankee Stadium. In the bottom of the seventh. 

The Mets start a series with the Miami Marlins tonight. Adam Mazur (0-1, 6.35 ERA) will get the starting nod for Miami. Clay Holmes (11-6, 3.60 ERA) will try to go up on stage after Nolan McLean for New York (NL). First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 pm eastern. The game will air on SNY and out of market on MLB Network. Please take mass transit if you plan on going to Citi Field - the US Open is next door.