McLean's brilliance and hot bats lead Mets to win as Soto suffers injury

Mets 10 Giants 3 (Oracle Park, San Francisco, CA)

Mets record: 4-4

Mets streak: Won 1

WP - Nolan McLean (1-0)

LP - Tyler Mahle (0-2)

Seat on the Korner:

We select a Star of the Game and virtually invite him to take his Seat on the Korner — just as Ralph Kiner did on WOR-TV Channel 9 during the early days of the New York Mets.

Continuing the tradition of Rheingold Beer sponsoring Kiner’s Korner, this season every seat is proudly presented by The Main Event Restaurant & Sports Bar.

With locations in Plainview and Farmingdale, The Main Event features 80+ HD TVs, fresh daily seafood, and Black Angus certified steaks—so you never have to choose between great food and the big game.

There were a few hitters that could have taken the seat tonight as the lineup assaulted the Giants to the tune of 15 hits (the most they've had in this short season.) But Nolan McLean's stuff was impossible to ignore as the pitcher who served as the Mets' stopper late last season led the way in an 10-3 victory which stopped yet another losing streak.

Need to Know

• McLean started the game twirling five perfect innings. Harrison Bader's walk in the 6th was the first time the Giants reached base. McLean would give up another walk and an RBI ground rule double to Willy Adames before leaving the game. McLean finished with four strikeouts in 5 and 1/3.

• Juan Soto left the game after the top of the first inning and was replaced by Tyrone Taylor. Soto singled in the first inning and was out at home on the 1-2-3 double play hit into by Brett Baty. The official word was "right calf tightness."

• Jorge Polanco missed tonight's game with Achilles tendinitis.

• Home plate umpire Charlie Ramos had three pitch calls challenged in the Mets' two run top of the first. Two of them were overturned.

• Marcus Semien's two run homer in the 4th was his first homer as a Met.

• Two batters (and six pitches) later, Francisco Alvarez hit his second homer of the season to make it 5-0. It was his 50th career dinger. Alvarez would hit number 51 in the 7th ... a missile off of JT Brubaker that cleared the ambulance. For Alvarez, it's his 6th career multi-homer game.

Turning Point

Sometimes turning points can turn games and seasons. Marcus Semien hadn't so much as hit a ball hard all season, until the first inning with the bases loaded and the Mets up 1-0 ...

Semien would later homer, which we'll get to below.

Three Keys

Inefficient Brilliance

Nolan McLean certainly took the path less traveled in his five perfect innings tonight. In his five perfect innings, 7 out of 15 batters reached full counts. It's usually a recipe for disaster, but McLean's stuff was so filthy that he was able to get by without any efficiency.

He was halfway there in multiple ways. Once he combines his stuff with some efficiency, he'll take what he did tonight to the next level. That's when he'll reach the heights that so many are predicting for him.

Uh Oh

Here's Juan Soto going first to third on Bo Bichette's double in the first inning in which we see Soto pulling up with a tight calf.

According to the legendary baseball mind known as Captain Obvious, this is not something the Mets want to play around with. If playing with a tight calf leads to something more serious, the Mets will have problems that Carson Benge, Tyrone Taylor, and Tommy Pham can't solve.

The Other Bats Stepped Up

The Mets scored 11 runs on Opening Day, then 14 runs in the next six games before putting up a 10 spot tonight. I'm sure that Mets fans would appreciate a little more consistency, but it was still nice to see many hitters who they are depending on come through multiple times tonight.

Bo Bichette went 3-for-5 with an RBI.

Semien also went 3-for-5 but with 3 RBI.

Alvarez hit two dingers including one that is still in orbit.

Mark Vientos went 2-for-3 with 2 walks.

It's the kind of performance that the Mets could sorely use more of if Soto misses any sort of extended time.