Nolan McLean impresses in MLB debut as Mets top Mariners

Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News on Aug 16, 2025

Published in Baseball

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NEW YORK — Nolan McLean sure can spin it, but the rookie didn’t solve the Mets' issue of starting pitching length.

Making his big league debut, McLean shut out the Seattle Mariners over 5 1/3 innings on Saturday afternoon at Citi Field in a 3-1 win, navigating a deep lineup with an array of spinning breaking pitches. It was an impressive outing for the rookie right-hander, but when manager Carlos Mendoza went out to the mound in the sixth, fans booed the move.

In front of a sellout crowd of 42,978, the 24-year-old McLean pounded the zone, unafraid to go right at hitters, something Mets starters haven’t been doing effectively since June. McLean (1-0) threw 91 pitches, working more efficiently in the early innings than he did in the middle. The Mariners managed only two hits off the former Oklahoma State Cowboy, who struck out eight, becoming the sixth Mets rookie to strike out eight or more in a debut outing. McLean walked four, with the walks hurting his pitch count.

It was unlikely the Mets were going to let him throw more than about 90. His career-high mark in Triple-A is 97, and the Mets don’t like to push their pitchers past the 90-pitch mark very often. Left-hander Gregory Soto came in to retire Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suarez, then set the side down in the seventh.

Maybe the Mets should have brought him up in June.

Right-hander Bryan Woo (10-7) nearly matched McLean’s effectiveness, limiting the Mets to one run over six innings. Francisco Lindor’s RBI double in the third scored Brett Baty to put the Mets ahead 1-0.

Once the Mets got to the bullpen, they had more success.

Baty and Lindor set the table, with A single and a stolen base off left-hander Caleb Ferguson in the bottom of the seventh set the table once again. A fly ball by Juan Soto scored Baty. Nimmo singled up center and Lindor tried to score from second, but it was a bad send by third base coach Mike Sarbaugh and the shortstop was out by a mile.

Seattle (68-56) then went to the bullpen for right-hander Carlos Vargas to counter right-handed slugger Pete Alonso, which proved to be the wrong move. Alonso doubled to the left-field corner to bring home Nimmo and give the Mets a 3-0 for closer Edwin Diaz.

After a week of blown leads and bad baseball, it looked as though the Mets (65-58) were doomed to the same fate when Diaz gave up a one-out home run to Eugenio Suarez in the ninth. The right-hander was unbothered by the bomb, retiring the next two to secure a six-out save (24), helping the Mets snap a four-game losing streak. It was only their 15th win in 17 games.