In terms of dazzling, Nolan McLean has done so more in other starts this season. He’s generated more strikeouts. He’s produced more swings and misses — the flashy numbers that can fill a boxscore.
But in terms of dominance, in terms of looking like the Mets ace of the future — a label he has thrived with — and powering them to a win, this was vintage McLean on Saturday, pitching the Mets to a 6-2 win over the Astros at Citi Field. On an afternoon when the Mets welcomed Juan Soto back from a 31-game absence and watched him drive in the go-ahead run, McLean scattered two hits across seven innings and allowed only an unearned run.
He didn’t record his first strikeout until the fifth inning, but he only walked one batter and has allowed just one earned run across three starts since his Aug. 8 dud.
And the Mets moved to 14-9 in their last 23 games, adding to a promising stretch that is likely far too late to impact the postseason picture but will give them something to build on for next year.
Along the way, and really since his ERA peaked at 4.40 on May 25, McLean has clawed back into National League Rookie of the Year contention. It might not be enough to top the Cardinals’ JJ Wetherholt or the Reds’ Sal Stewart or even Mets teammate Carson Benge, but he has built a strong first full season in the majors.
The Mets trailed 1-0 after just two batters, as Jeremy Peña doubled into the left field corner, the ball skipped between Brett Baty’s legs and the Astros designated hitter ended up at third — scoring when Yordan Alvarez collected a sacrifice fly.
McLean, who didn’t record his first strikeout until the fifth inning, settled down from there, though, and didn’t allow another runner to reach second base the rest of the game while retiring 20 of the next 24 batters.
He only forced Houston hitters to whiff on six of his 40 swings, but McLean avoided the major swings — and the home runs — that have caused other starts to unravel. After Baty’s gaffe, the Mets responded in the bottom of the first when Francisco Lindor walked, advanced to second on a balk and scored on Jared Young’s single.
In the fifth, Soto delivered a vintage moment in his first game back, shifting the tenor in the Mets’ favor — something that hasn’t happened much this year — for good by driving in Lindor.
After Bo Bichette flew out and Carson Benge singled, Young drove in his second and third runs of the game with a triple down the right field line, continuing to play his way into 2027 conversations. Alvarez pulled the Astros within a run in the eighth inning, hammering a Daniel Duarte cutter 436 feet over the right-center fence for his 37th home run, but Kodai Senga recorded the final three outs when called upon in the ninth after the Mets added a pair of insurance runs in the eighth.
And everything, really, connected back to McLean’s latest game. That has become a constant since he debuted in August 2025 and immediately became the centerpiece of the Mets’ pitching future. There have been obstacles — like earlier this season. There have been adjustments, too.
All of that over the past month has cobbled together to turn this stretch into a return to normalcy for McLean. Saturday became the latest reminder.
