Mets Beat Padres 2-1 With Excellent Start From Nolan McLean and Bullpen

 

Mets RHP Nolan McLean (Photo Credits to SNY.TV)

The New York Mets beat the San Diego Padres at Citi Field tonight for their fourth consecutive win and improved their record to 57-69.

The Met offense got on the board immediately in the bottom of the first after LF A.J. Ewimg led off with a single and SS Francisco Lindor followed with a walk.

3B Bo Bichette then drove in Ewing with a RBI single and advanced Lindot to third. RF Carson Benge followed by grounding out to third to advance Bichtete to second.

CF Luis Robert Jr followed by driving in Lindor with a sacrifice fly.

The offense did not do much after that and had one hitter reach base from the second to the sixth. They had a chance to score in the bottom of the eighth after 2B Marcus Semien and DH Jorge Polanco singled to start the inning, but then catcher Francisco Alvarez struck out and Ewing grounded out and Lindor grounded out to third to end the inning.

Mets RHP Nolan McLean got off to rocky start in the top of the first after he gave up back-to-back singles with one out. 

McLean was then helped out by his defense after he gave up a single to 1B Ty France, but Benge threw 2B Jake Croneworth. McLean gave up another single to the following hitter CF Jackson Merrill, but once again Benge came up with another outstanding throw to throw out 3B Manny Machado at the plate.

McLean had another difficult inning in the top of the second after he gave up two walks and a hit by pitch to load the bases. He gave up a sacrifice fly to RF Fernando Tatis, but again his outfield defense came to his rescue after LF A.J. Ewing threw out SS Xander Bogaerts at home.

McLean was able to settle down after that and allowed only hit after the second inning and at one point retired nine out of 10 hitters and was taken out after the top of the sixth.

His final line was six innings, six hits, one run, four walks and three strikeouts. He picked up his ninth win and lowered his ERA to 3.34.

RHP Jonathan Pintaro came in next and threw a scoreless top of the seventh and picked up first out in the top of the eighth and was then taken out. LHP Nate Lavender followed and picked up last two outs in the inning on two pitches.

RHP Daniel Duarte came on in the top of the ninth and closed it out with a 1-2-3 top of the ninth with two strikeouts to pick up his second save.

The Mets next game is tomorrow night, Tuesday, August 18 at home against the Padres at 7:10 p.m.