The Mets left the first series of the second half with a win, and they did it by leaning on the kind of things that can carry a team through a tough stretch: young pitching, a big day from Francisco Lindor, and enough early offense to keep the Phillies from settling in.
New York took two of three from Philadelphia, getting wins in the first and third games of the set. On Thursday night, Francisco Álvarez powered the Mets to a 4-1 victory with two home runs. Then on Sunday, the bats went after rookie starter Alan Rangel right away, putting up five runs in the first two innings.
The pitching was the real backbone of the series. Nolan McLean and Christian Scott combined for 11.2 innings without allowing an earned run, and they piled up 17 strikeouts in the process.
Scott opened the series Thursday by allowing three hits and striking out seven over 5.2 innings. McLean followed Sunday with six scoreless innings and 10 strikeouts.
That kind of performance matters for more than just this weekend. If the Mets are going to have any shot at contending in 2027, they need a much stronger rotation than the one they’ve run out this year.
McLean and Scott are starting to look like part of that answer. Both are still before their arbitration windows, which makes them useful on the field and for the payroll.
Right now, it’s not hard to imagine them in the middle of the rotation next season, with McLean even looking like a possible No. 1 and Scott as a No. 2.
Lindor also gave the Mets a much-needed jolt. He had been in a rough spell since coming off the injured list, carrying an OPS of .596 entering Sunday while trade deadline questions kept hanging over his contract and future in Queens.
Against the Phillies, he finally broke through in a big way, reaching base five times. That included a first-inning homer off Rangel and an eighth-inning double.
Francisco Lindor CRUSHES this baseball to the second deck 😮 pic.twitter.com/B7giHCHIAq
It was Lindor’s first major performance of the summer, and it looked a lot more like the player the Mets leaned on during their run to the 2024 NLCS. His season OPS climbed from .639 to .694, and his three times on base in his first three plate appearances matched his season high.
He had also done that in March, when the year was just getting started. After only three hits in his previous four games, Sunday may have been the day he finally snapped out of it.
The Mets now head into a second half that doesn’t exactly offer much breathing room. Their schedule is lined up with playoff teams, and as things stand, they won’t face another opponent more than five games out of a postseason spot until Sept. 4, when the San Francisco Giants come to town.
Andy Green’s record as interim manager hasn’t been pretty - the Mets are 8-11 since he took over - but there are real differences in the way this team looks. The offense has shown more life, and the younger players have taken a clear step forward.
Álvarez and Brett Baty have both seen their bats wake up. Scott has started to look like a future ace.
And rookies McLean and AJ Ewing have been transformed. Since Green took over and through the start of play Sunday, Ewing posted an .882 OPS with four homers in 18 games and was on a 20-homer, 20-stolen-base pace.
McLean, meanwhile, entered Sunday with a 1.00 ERA in three starts under Green, and he lowered it again after shutting down the Phillies.
McLean also looked more aggressive on the mound, attacking hitters more often and using his fastball to finish them off with two strikes. He even did it against MVP-candidate Kyle Schwarber.
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