Mets' Nolan McLean didn't have best stuff in outing against Yankees: 'They came out and beat me'
· Yahoo Sports
Coming into Friday’s game, Mets starter Nolan McLean had allowed four earned runs in his last five outings and was making a great final push for the National League Rookie of the Year award.
But on Friday against the Yankees, the right-hander wasn’t at his best and gave up five earned runs on a career-high 10 hits allowed in five innings. The big blow came in the second inning when Cody Bellinger took him deep for a three-run shot that gave the Yanks a 4-1 lead, one they wouldn’t relinquish in an eventual 6-4 win.
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“If you don’t have your best stuff teams are gonna beat you and I didn’t have my best stuff tonight,” McLean said. “The Yankees are a good team and they came out and beat me.”
While McLean admitted to not having his best stuff overall on Friday night at Yankee Stadium, he said the pitch to Bellinger, a curveball down in the zone, was where he wanted it.
“I was happy where I put that pitch,” McLean said. “I didn’t wanna leave the zone too much and not get the swing and put him on base. He was able to kinda dig it out and kinda ride through his front side a little bit and put it in the seats. It’s unfortunate, but that guy’s good at baseball too so it’s part of it sometimes.”
The home run was the first McLean has allowed on his curveball, a pitch that has mystified hitters since the rookie entered the league.
It wasn’t just the homer by Bellinger, though, that did damage against McLean.
In the first inning, the rookie was put in immediate danger following two singles and a walk before a third single in the inning brought home a run. The right-hander also fell behind a lot of hitters and interim manager Andy Green thought he could’ve been more aggressive, especially on the inside of the plate.
“I think Nolan had the opportunity to probably attack in more than he did today and you can feel from the beginning they were living out over [the plate], so it wasn’t necessarily his best day,” Green said. “There was opportunity to probably get in more aggressively than he did though.”
As for Bellinger’s home run, Green agreed with his young pitcher that the lefty slugger “hit a couple of nice pitches.” Bellinger finished 2-for-4.
Not only was McLean’s start the first of the Subway Series, it also came on the 25th anniversary of the attacks on 9/11, which put things into perspective for the 25-year-old who was just a couple of months old when the events transpired.
“It was awesome. Awesome fans, awesome city,” McLean said of the energy at the stadium. “I think that’s what’s ultimately most important about tonight – the people who died trying to help others and the people who were in those buildings, it’s awesome to see that many people show up and support it.”