ATLANTA — Nolan McLean wasn’t even alive when the Atlanta Braves won the 1995 World Series, but any pitcher who grew up in the South, like the Mets‘ right-hander did, has undoubtedly heard of the “Big Three,” Tom Glavine, John Smoltz and Greg Maddux.
Friday night at Truist Park, with the trio in attendance, McLean did his best to channel their greatness in the second big-league start of his career. An efficient McLean held the Braves to only two earned runs over seven innings in the Mets’ 12-7 win. It marked the first time since June 7 the Mets have had a starting pitcher other than David Peterson throw six or more innings, snapping a streak of 62 games.
“Now it’s in the past,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “Hopefully now guys can feed off each other and it kind of [becomes] contagious because we’re going to need those guys.”
Though he tries to treat every start the same, the 24-year-old couldn’t deny that this one was special. His parents were in attendance. He had friends watching and a trainer from Oklahoma State, where he played in college. It was the ballpark he would visit when he came to Atlanta to play in travel ball tournaments.
Plus, the Big Three were watching from the stands.
“That’s definitely surreal,” McLean said. “It’s special just to be able to go out there and compete at the highest level.”
It was a night celebrating the past as the Braves honored 30-year anniversary of the 1995 championship team. All of the greats were on hand for a pregame ceremony, including Chipper Jones, a childhood hero of McLean growing up in North Carolina. McLean watched the pregame ceremony from the dugout, eager to be a part of Major League festivities.
But once he took the mound, it was all about the future.
The Braves (58-70, fourth-place NL East) have long been out of championship contention, and with the Mets (68-60, second-place NL East) desperately clinging to their own playoff hopes, they needed a big performance. They got what they needed.
“We had some really good at-bats, 1-9, especially against [left-hander Joey Wentz],” Mendoza said. “We forced him up in the zone at the beginning. We chased a little bit, but then just continued to add on.”
The Mets beat up on Wentz (4-4), scoring six earned runs in only 3 1/3 innings, and continuing the onslaught against right-hander Erick Fedde, with six off of the right-hander. A 20-hit night for the Mets, every hitter in the starting lineup got a hit, including backup catcher Hayden Senger, who went 2-for-5 with a career-high three RBI.
Third on the depth chart, Senger was called up at the start of the Mets’ six-game road trip Tuesday when Francisco Alvarez was placed on the injured list.
Juan Soto hit his 32nd home run of the season and was one of five hitters to have at least three hits. Brett Baty had a career-high four, going 4-for-5 with a double and three runs scored.
“It was awesome,” Baty said. “I felt like 1-9 we were just going out there and smacking the ball around. These nights are really fun.”
“We know that we’re a pretty good offensive team,” Mendoza added. “When we’ve got those guys clicking like that, we’re going to score a lot of runs. We were able to make some adjustments today.”
But the real star was McLean (2-0). The offense spotted him a 4-0 lead early, scoring twice in the second inning and two more times in the third. McLean used a 97 MPH sinker and a sweeper with some major spin to get ground-ball outs.
He struck out notorious Met-killer Matt Olson three times, throwing the book at the slugger. In the first inning, he got ahead on Olson right away, 0-2, and went to curveball, another high-spin pitch. Olson took one out of the zone for ball 1, but fouled off another and swung through a third for strike 3.
Trying to extend the inning after Jurickson Profar drove in the Braves’ first run, in his second at-bat, Olson worked the count full before striking out on another curveball. McLean used just about everything to get Olson out in his third at-bat, but struck him out on a cutter, a pitch he hadn’t used against him in the first two at-bats.
“I mixed a lot of pitches against him,” McLean said. “Was able to execute some cutters in the last at-bat against him, which I didn’t show him the entire game. I didn’t have much of the curveball tonight, but I did have it against him, so it was lucky to be able to get it below his bat a few times.”
Ronald Acuña Jr. led off the fourth with a home run, but by then the Mets were already up six runs, 7-1. That was closest the Braves would come. McLean’s final line: Two earned runs on four hits, no walks and seven strikeouts. Not bad for a rookie in a hostile environment.
“I think our offense just did such a good job to give me so much breathing room that I was able to just pound the strike zone and make them put it in play,” McLean said.
Maybe the key to the Mets’ success in Atlanta is using a lifelong Braves fan against them.
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