DETROIT — Nolan McLean was sloppy for two innings Tuesday night before resuming as the rookie force that has moved him atop this beleaguered Mets rotation.
Early walks and contact threatened the right-hander, then the Tigers’ fun ended. McLean got rolling, and a fourth straight win to begin his major league career awaited, with booming bats supporting him.
With McLean in charge, the Mets beat the Tigers 12-5 at Comerica Park to win their second straight against the team that began play with the American League’s best record.
The Mets extended their lead over Cincinnati to five games for the NL’s third and final wild card. Philadelphia leads the Mets by 5 ½ games for first place in the NL East.
Pete Alonso homered twice, and Luis Torrens and Juan Soto also went deep to lead the offensive attack, but the needed brilliance for the Mets was from the starting pitching. McLean, who surrendered two runs for the night, delivered by retiring 14 straight batters to conclude his night.
“I started to lose confidence in the sweeper and curveball early, just because I wasn’t throwing them for strikes,” McLean said. “And then once I got in the groove there, I figured I would go back and try it again and ended up having it later in the game.”
It didn’t hurt that the Mets gifted McLean a 6-2 lead by scoring five runs in the fourth inning.
“My goal was to be aggressive from the start, and I was a little bit erratic early,” McLean said. “[The run support] definitely helps confidence-wise, getting back into the zone knowing we have got such a good lead.”
Overall, he allowed two earned runs over six innings on three hits with three walks and seven strikeouts, leaving the field with a 1.37 ERA. McLean’s performance snapped a streak of three straight starts — by David Peterson, Kodai Senga and Sean Manaea — in which a Mets starting pitcher failed to complete five innings.
“[McLean] showed a lot of maturity there,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He’s a guy that looks like he’s got a pretty good feeling, idea of what he’s trying to do on the mound. … He found a way, and that’s not easy to do for a 24-year-old.”
Alonso blasted a two-out homer in the first inning to give the Mets a 1-0 lead. Sawyer Gipson-Long fell behind in the count on Alonso, who swung at a 3-0 fastball and cleared the center field fence.
McLean walked consecutive batters, Kerry Carpenter and Riley Greene, with two outs in the first inning and watched both of them score. Spencer Torkelson and Wenceel Pérez each delivered an RBI single, with Pérez thrown out at second base trying to advance after an unsuccessful play at the plate.
Zach McKinstry walked to begin the second and was thrown out attempting to steal second base. McLean followed by allowing a single to Dillon Dingler — the final base runner against him.
“It’s the attitude that [McLean] has when he’s on that mound — he’s always out there trying to compete,” Torrens said.
The Mets reclaimed the lead during a fourth inning in which they sent nine baters to the plate and scored five runs. Torrens delivered the biggest jolt, a three-run homer off the foul pole in right that extended the lead to 6-2.
Jeff McNeil stroked an RBI single with the bases loaded, and Cedric Mullins’ sacrifice fly accounted for the other run. Soto started the rally with a leadoff walk and steal of second before Brandon Nimmo singled with one out and Mark Vientos walked to load the bases.
Soto and Alonso hit back-to-back homers to begin the seventh, but the Mets were just getting started in the inning. After Nimmo singled and Vientos doubled him to third, McNeil stroked a two-run single that widened the gulf to 10-2. Brett Baty stroked an RBI single later in the inning and Francisco Lindor’s sacrifice fly buried the Tigers in a 12-2 hole.
“What [McLean] is doing on the field is great and awesome, and it’s helping us win, but I am really impressed with his day-to-day process,” Alonso said. “And that’s the reason he’s been able to do what he’s doing on the field.”