Nolan McLean dominates as New York Mets shut out Astros 5-0

The New York Mets took home a comfortable 5-0 win in West Palm Beach, as Nolan McLean and the rest of the pitching staff put on an absolute clinic against the Houston Astros on Thursday. McLean looked completely dialed in from the very first pitch of the afternoon. He set the tone early for the whole team and gave fans a lot to look forward to this season. Spring training games do not count in the standings, but this kind of performance is exactly what you want to see.

Inside McLean’s Dominant Start

McLean pitched four scoreless innings and barely broke a sweat doing it. He threw 56 pitches during his outing, and 36 of those pitches found the strike zone for a solid strike rate. The right-hander allowed just one single hit and walked only one batter while racking up six total strikeouts. He showed off a deep and versatile bag of pitches, mixing a sinker, a four-seamer, a cutter, a changeup, a curveball, and a sweeper. His velocity was right where you want it to be for late February. He actually topped out at 97.9 mph on his heavy sinker.

The Astros sent out a solid lineup for a spring game, but McLean worked right through their major league talent. He picked up two quick strikeouts in the first inning. He froze Zach Cole with a 96 mph sinker before getting star infielder Carlos Correa to swing over a nasty curveball. He added another strikeout in the second inning when he got Cam Smith to whiff on a 97 mph sinker. Jeremy Peña went down swinging on a perfectly placed changeup to end the third inning. In his fourth and final frame, McLean struck out Correa again with another changeup and eventually caught Joey Loperfido looking at a sinker to finish his day.

Offensive Run Support

The offense made sure to give McLean plenty of run support early in the contest. Tyrone Taylor got things started in the second inning with a massive three-run home run to center field. That big hit brought home Luis Torrens and Jared Young to give New York a quick 3-0 lead.

Marcus Semien kept the momentum rolling right along in the third inning. He launched a solo shot over the wall in left-center field to extend the lead. Semien finished his afternoon with two hits in three at-bats, adding a run scored and an RBI to his spring totals. Jared Young later added a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning to bring home Ronny Mauricio, which capped the overall scoring at 5-0.

The Bullpen Slams the Door

Robert Stock took over on the mound in the fifth inning and did not miss a single beat. He tossed three completely scoreless innings in relief of McLean to bridge the gap to the late innings. Stock was just as unhittable as the starter, striking out six batters of his own during his appearance. He did not walk a single batter and gave up only one isolated hit. Between McLean and Stock, the Houston hitters looked completely lost at the plate for seven straight innings. They simply could not catch up to the fastballs or wait back on the breaking pitches.

The rest of the bullpen locked things down easily to secure the shutout victory. Anderson Severino came out for the eighth inning and kept the Astros off the board without any real trouble. Ben Simon then handled the ninth inning to slam the door shut and finalize the win. This was a complete team win for the Mets from start to finish.

The pitching staff combined for an impressive 14 strikeouts and allowed just two hits all afternoon long. If this is the kind of pitching we can expect going forward, it is going to be a highly entertaining year in Queens. The Mets will pack up and head to Jupiter tomorrow to play the St. Louis Cardinals at 1:05 PM.