Nolan McLean struck out 10 over six scoreless innings as the visiting New York Mets notched a 6-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday in the rubber game of their weekend series.
Francisco Lindor hit a long homer as part of a 3-for-3 afternoon in which he also walked twice and drove in three runs. That was more than enough support for McLean (7-6), who allowed only two hits and a pair of walks in lowering his ERA to 0.75 over his last four starts.
Philadelphia starter Alan Rangel (0-3) gave up five runs, seven hits and three walks to go with four strikeouts in four innings. Alec Bohm’s homer accounted for the only run for the Phillies.
New York inflicted damage in each of the first two innings against Rangel.
With two outs in the first, Bo Bichette drew a walk on an 11-pitch at-bat and Lindor followed with a blast to right – his sixth home run of the season.
In the second, Brett Baty led off with a single and came around on Luis Torrens’ double to left. Later in the frame, the Mets had the bases loaded with one out when Lindor’s RBI single to right made it 4-0. Carson Benge plated another run with a sacrifice fly.
New York added an insurance run in the sixth, as Torrens, A.J. Ewing and Juan Soto opened with consecutive singles against lefty Tim Mayza. Max Lazar came out of the bullpen and limited the damage, but the visitors were up 6-0 at that point.
Meanwhile, McLean had few issues against a lethargic Philadelphia lineup. He retired the Phillies in order in the first and then got a double play grounder to escape the second. He struck out two during a 1-2-3 third inning and retired three Philadelphia All-Stars, in order, in the fourth.
McLean cruised through the fifth, as well, striking out Bohm and J.T. Realmuto in the process. In the sixth, the right-hander worked around a pair of baserunners, striking out Bryce Harper to get through the frame.
Bohm’s seventh-inning homer off A.J. Minter put Philadelphia on the scoreboard. However, the hosts had no luck in the eighth against Huascar Brazoban or in the ninth against Cionel Perez.
