FLUSHING, NY — Nolan McLean was determined to end the New York Mets’ 11-game losing streak and was well on his way to doing so Tuesday night at Citi Field with five perfect innings against the Minnesota Twins.
In his first five frames of work, with 15 up and 15 down, the 24-year-old right-hander, already establishing himself as an ace, was dealing with eight strikeouts.
He was also given early run support by two-time LatinoMVP Award winner Francisco Lindor (Caguas, Puerto Rico), connecting for a three-run home run in the third inning that appeared like it would be enough.
But the Mets’ offense got cold once again as the Twins tightened the game with a sixth inning two-run homer from center fielder Byron Buxton.
With tension quickly returning back to Citi Field at 3-2 while fans worried about a 12th straight loss, McLean gave up another single after Buxton’s HR and then got a groundout to escape the sixth at 81 pitches.
He returned for the seventh up 3-2, but McLean’s inning did not come to complete as the Twins got to work after his 10th strikeout of the game with one out.
With Kody Clemens hitting a double and Luke Keaschall striking an RBI single to tie the game up at 3-3, Matt Wallner then grounded out. And at that point, McLean was done after 6.2 innings of three-run ball with 10 strikeouts.
“I’d like to go a bit longer,” McLean said in the postgame. “But Bux made a good swing and things snowballed from there.”
On the season, he’s pitched 30.1 innings with 38 strikeouts and has an ERA of 2.67.
Mets’ reliever Huascar Brazobán (Villa Mella, Dominican Republic) came into the game following McLean, and was very effective with 1.1 scoreless innings and two strikeouts.
Though the orange and blue offense continued to stall, recording just three singles—from Bo Bichette, Brett Baty, and Mark Vientos—after the Lindor home run.
In their 12th consecutive loss Tuesday night to fall to 7-16 on the year, the Mets only recorded four hits against the Twins – Image Credit: Al Pereira/Latino Sports
“It sucks. You’re feeling good, especially with the way the game was developing there,” said Mets manager Carlos Mendoza. “You watch Nolan kind of dominate pretty much a whole lineup there for the first five innings. Especially how Lindor sets the tone there with a three-run homer, you feel like you’re getting some momentum. But then after that, we couldn’t do anything else.”
In the ninth, Devin Williams appeared, walking his first two batters, which followed with a sacrifice bunt from Clemens and Keaschall coming through again with another RBI single that just escaped the infield, giving Minnesota a 4-3 lead.
Williams then walked in a run with the bases loaded and it was suddenly 5-3.
The Mets escaped the rest of the ninth, after pulling Williams and putting in Austin Warren, who struck out the side. Although it didn’t matter because the Mets’ bats went down quietly in the bottom of the ninth to move the losing streak to 12 games and drop to 7-16—the worst record in MLB.
“It’s tough, man. I’ve never been a part of something like this,” Williams said of the streak. “I think we just need to get the one win out of the way and I think everything else will take care of itself.”
There is one positive note in Queens. Three-time LatinoMVP Award winner Juan Soto (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic), out during this entire losing streak as well as three games prior due to a right calf strain, is set to return Wednesday from the IL.
“At the end of the day, I hope everybody doesn’t put all the pressure on him,” Lindor said of Soto returning. “That would be a little unfair. But I know he’s going to help us a ton. He’s a top three-hitter in the league.”
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