Nolan McLean’s rare clunker sinks Mets in Subway Series loss

Nolan McLean’s Subway Series debut won’t be included among his rookie season’s greatest hits. 

The right-hander yielded a career-high 10 hits (including two homers) on Friday in the Mets’ 6-4 loss to the Yankees in The Bronx. 

Cody Bellinger’s three-run homer in the second inning inflicted most of the damage against McLean. In the fifth, Ben Rice cleared the left field fence against him, widening the Mets’ deficit to 5-1. McLean was removed after the inning at 101 pitches. 

“If you don’t have your best stuff, teams are going to beat you,” McLean said. “I didn’t have my best stuff tonight, and the Yankees are a good team. They came out and beat me.” 

The rough outing snapped a string of five straight starts in which McLean allowed two earned runs or fewer and pitched at least six innings. Overall, he had lasted at least six innings in 13 of his previous 14 starts. 

McLean was shaky from the start, allowing three singles and a walk in the first inning to fall into a 1-0 hole. After Spencer Jones delivered an RBI single with the bases loaded in the inning, McLean eluded further damage by getting George Lombard Jr. to ground into an inning-ending double play. 

Though McLean got two fast outs in the second, he surrendered consecutive singles to Anthony Volpe and Rice before Bellinger homered on a full-count curveball into the right-field seats. It was the first career homer McLean surrendered on a curveball. 

“There’s some pitches I probably could have thrown a little bit better, and there’s times in a game, too, where you make pitches and they don’t find gloves,” McLean said. “It felt like those first two innings a lot of that was happening. Bellinger with a big swing, that kind of sealed the deal and a lot of the damage in that second inning.” 

Carson Benge’s right arm helped McLean avoid trouble in the third: Luis Garcia was erased trying to stretch a leadoff single into a double as Benge threw a strike to Francisco Lindor. 

Rice’s blast in the fifth left McLean with multiple homers allowed in a game for the first time since July 30, when he surrendered two to the Marlins. 

McLean didn’t lose sight of the night’s significance, with pregame ceremonies dedicated to the 25th anniversary of 9/11. 

“Awesome fans, awesome city,” he said. “I think ultimately that is what is most important about tonight: People who died trying to help others and people who were in those buildings. It’s awesome to see that many people show up and support it.”