NEW YORK — (AP) — Three games into his major league career, Nolan McLean has already accomplished something Tom Seaver, Dwight Gooden, Jacob deGrom or anyone else wearing a New York Mets uniform could not.
McLean became the first Mets pitcher to win his first three MLB starts, tossing eight marvelous innings Wednesday night in a 6-0 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies that completed a three-game sweep.
“He’s a stud, man,” Mets infielder Mark Vientos said with a grin. “It’s so fun to be a part of what he does on day-to-day basis.”
Facing the Phillies, who entered Wednesday with the second-best batting average in the majors, the 24-year-old right-hander allowed four hits and walked none with six strikeouts. He threw 95 pitches — just 55 through the first six innings.
“Top to bottom, they’re stacked with hitters,” McLean said. “So I definitely knew I had to bring some good stuff tonight.”
Showing off an arsenal that includes a sharp-breaking curveball in the high 70s (mph), a sweeper and a fastball clocked in the mid-90s, McLean retired 15 straight batters following Alec Bohm’s second-inning single and faced the minimum into the seventh.
“All I can say is wow,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “It’s just everything about the kid — not only what we’re seeing on the mound, just the way he carries himself. He’s got electric stuff, but he’s got pitchability. He knows what he’s doing on the mound. He knows how to manipulate the baseball. He knows what hitters are trying to do. He’s not afraid to use all his pitches.”
The Phillies mounted their lone threat in the eighth, when Bohm and Max Kepler opened the inning with singles. McLean preserved the shutout by retiring Nick Castellanos and Bryson Stott on medium-depth flyouts and inducing Harrison Bader to hit a squibber back toward the mound.
“I felt like he had good stuff,” Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber said. “He moves the ball around really good and he was filling up the zone. I felt like he made some pitches when he needed to make some pitches.”
McLean pounded his right fist into his glove as the Citi Field crowd of 41,893 roared.
“He doesn’t shy away from big moments,” Vientos said. “Three starts — it’s been big moments and good teams and he’s done his thing.”
New York has gone 8-3 since McLean was called up from the minors to pull within four games of the NL East-leading Phillies. McLean, who went seven innings in a 12-7 win at Atlanta last Friday, and All-Star lefty David Peterson are the only Mets starters to last at least seven innings since June 2.
“We’ve been missing that type of performance pretty much the whole year,” Mendoza said.
McLean lowered his ERA to 0.89 — also the lowest in team history for a rookie in his first three starts. Seaver, a 300-game winner and Hall of Famer, held the mark previously with a 1.19 ERA over his first three starts in 1967.
McLean’s 21 strikeouts are tied with teammate Kodai Senga for the third-most in franchise annals through three career starts, behind only Matt Harvey (2012).
“I’ve always been a believer in my stuff. I’m a confident guy,” McLean said. “Obviously, the hitters here are the best in the world and I know that. But I also know I have good stuff. And if I go out there and execute, I can get a lot of guys out as well.”
Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez, on the injured list with a UCL sprain in his right thumb, exited his first rehab game with Triple-A Syracuse after he was hit by a pitch on his left pinkie.
Alvarez was 1 for 2 with a double before leaving the game.
“He’s getting checked out right now,” Mendoza said.
Jose Siri (broken left leg) and Jesse Winker (back) also made their rehab debuts for Class-A St. Lucie. Siri, who hasn’t played for the Mets since April 12, drew a walk and was hit by a pitch. Winker, on the injured list since July 11, was 0 for 2.
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