NY Mets: What stood out about Pete Alonso breaking team home run record
Pete Alonso proved himself to be the Mets franchise’s preeminent power hitter when he set the club record with his 253rd home run on Aug. 13, 2025.
NEW YORK — The boos have come in waves for the Mets in the midst of a stretch of 14 losses in 16 games, but the only jeers for Nolan McLean came when the fans were yearning for more on Saturday afternoon.
The top pitching prospect delivered some badly-needed optimism in his major league debut at Citi Field.
With a vast repertoire and a knack for spinning the baseball, McLean dazzled in his first big league start, holding the Mariners, who erupted for 11 runs one night earlier, scoreless across 5⅓ innings.
McLean performance galvanized the Mets and their fans on the way to a much-needed 3-1 victory in front of a sold-out crowd of 42,978 fans in Flushing.
“I don’t think so,” McLean said when asked if he felt a responsibility to be a stopper. “I was going out there and trying to compete. I’m trying to win every game I go out. At the end of the day, that’s what I’m here to do is try to win.”
When Carlos Mendoza pulled the plug following McLean’s eighth strikeout, with a runner on first and one out in the sixth, Mets fans issued their pleas with echoing disapproval.
“I heard them loud and clear and if I was sitting in the stands, I would be booing myself too,” Mendoza said with a chuckle. “I completely understand, but I have a responsibility to, number one, win games. Number two, we’re talking about one of our best prospects that is making his major league debut, (and) we have a plan in place.”
The fans then made a 180-degree turn, rising to their feet to show their admiration for McLean’s coming-of-age effort. It was the Mets’ first start of five or more scoreless innings since David Peterson tossed a complete-game shutout on June 11.
With McLean scoring his first major league victory, the Mets snapped a three-game losing streak. It was the first time in 11 games that they have won in a game decided by three runs or fewer. They will now have an opportunity to end a run of five sets without a series win on Sunday in the Little League Classic from Williamsport, Pa.
“He was attacking and he wanted to get back in the dugout and continue to give us the momentum,” Francisco Lindor said. “We have a good pitching staff here and a lot of guys that try to do that, and today, for his first day, you wouldn’t be able to tell that was his first day.”
How Nolan McLean got the job done in his debut
McLean, the Mets’ No. 3 overall prospect according to MLB Pipeline, looked fit for the moment from the offset on Saturday.
He did not waste any time making a strong first impression, freezing Mariners leadoff batter Randy Arozarena on a sweeper for his first career strikeout in the opening at-bat. After walking MLB’s home run leader, Cal Raleigh, McLean got a slow roller from Julio Rodriguez and struck out Josh Naylor on a curveball.
The crowd at Citi Field, who had been clamoring for a strong pitching performance, rose to its feet to greet their newest starter.
“Honestly, I felt pretty good,” McLean said. “Once the batters stepped in there, it was just competition mode from there, but just getting the first one out of the way is always good.”
When McLean had his back up against the wall for the first time in the top of the third inning, he pulled off a vanishing act to erase a bases-loaded jam.
After issuing back-to-back walks to the Mariners’ No. 8 and 9 batters, he buckled down against the top of the order.
McLean struck out Arozarena on a sinker and after Raleigh singled, McLean gloved a chopper behind his back and turning it over to Brett Baty at second base to jump-start an inning-ending double play.
“I try to stay as athletic as possible, but I think that play was majority luck,” said McLean, who was drafted as a two-way player out of Oklahoma State. “I don’t know if I ever practiced ground balls behind the back.
The highlight temporarily broke the tension of a scoreless game as a smile broke through for McLean as he walked toward the dugout. He followed it up with a perfect fourth inning, striking out Eugenio Suarez and Jorge Polanco on curveballs in back-to-back at-bats. He worked around a leadoff single in the fifth.
The sweeper had been McLean’s bread-and-butter wipeout pitch in the minor leagues, but it was his twisting curveball that posted the best results on Sunday. While McLean threw his sweeper 36 percent of the time, he got a 45 percent whiff rate on his curveball, which accounted for half of his strikeouts.
“I think the thing with him is he knows how to locate that sinker, that fastball, that cutter, so the other pitches, especially the sweeper and the curve, when he’s able to locate those (other) pitches, he’s able to manipulate the other pitches and it makes it look completely different,” Alvarez said through an interpreter.
How the Mets provided support for Nolan McLean
In the bottom of the third inning after McLean’s defensive save, the Mets took a lead against Mariners All-Star righty Bryan Woo. Brett Baty shot a single up the middle and scored on a looping RBI double from Francisco Lindor down the right-field line.
Mendoza called on Gregory Soto in relief of McLean in the top of the sixth inning. Despite a stolen base and error moving Raleigh to third, Soto got through with a fly ball and striking out Suarez. He tossed a perfect seventh inning, finishing with a pair of strikeouts and no baserunners with his second strikeout.
The Mets built their advantage to 3-0 in the seventh on a Juan Soto sacrifice fly and Pete Alonso tallying his 100th RBI on an RBI double down the left-field line.
“Good teams find a way,” Mendoza said. “We’ve been having a hard time just making the last play, executing pitches, putting the ball in play, getting the big hit when we needed to but continue to trust the players. It was good to win, especially facing a team like that where you’re facing a pretty good pitcher and a pretty good lineup.”
Mendoza did not fool around late in the game, bringing on Edwin Diaz for a six-out save. Diaz struck out two to work around a single in the eighth. After giving up a one-out solo homer run to Eugenio Suarez in the ninth, he recorded back-to-back outs.
“We protect these guys for a long time and we’re getting to a point now where it’s go time, and we saw it today,” Mendoza said.