TLDR: San Diego brought its hottest starter in months into Citi Field and still walked away with nothing to show for it — a 2-1 nail-biter that came down to the final out.
−Still without Juan Soto (calf) and Vientos (hand)
−Bullpen down Williams, Perez and Warren
Walker Buehler and Nolan McLean squared off at Citi Field Monday, first pitch at 7:10 PM ET, and neither team's record going in — the Padres at 67-59, the Mets a scuffling 57-69 — hinted at how tight this one would actually play. Buehler's been a much better pitcher than his season-long line suggests, riding a stretch since June where he's trimmed his ERA down near 3. McLean, for his part, has quietly turned into one of the more reliable arms in the Mets' rotation, sitting at 3.34 with a record that undersells how good New York's been under interim skipper Andy Green.
Walker Buehler
(8-6)·4.66 ERA
Aug 11 vs Brewers
W
6.0IP
1ER
5K
2BB
98P
08/17 Lineup
Nolan McLean
(10-8)·3.06 ERA
Aug 11 @ Braves
L
6.0IP
1ER
3K
2BB
85P
08/17 Lineup
New York's still missing its two best middle-of-the-order threats — Juan Soto working back from a left calf strain, Mark Vientos still building up after a hand issue — but Green has somehow kept the lineup scoring anyway. It's a strange bit of symmetry that Green himself managed the Padres from 2016 through 2019 before landing in Queens. San Diego, meanwhile, walked in banged up in a different way: its rotation is down Joe Musgrove, Nick Pivetta and Lucas Giolito, leaving Buehler as close to a true No. 1 as this staff has right now.
The board treated this one as close to a coin flip as MLB gets, and the game backed that up — it came down to the final out. A wet first pitch gave way to a cleaner night by the middle innings, and neither offense ever really got comfortable at the plate.
Buehler and McLean both delivered exactly the kind of start their recent form promised. San Diego actually out-hit New York 7-5 on the night but couldn't turn that into more than a single run, while the Mets made their early runs hold up the rest of the way.
Both bullpens are operating short-handed, and it showed in how carefully each manager handled the middle innings. San Diego is still without Jason Adam, who's only just gotten back to playing catch from 90 feet, and New York is missing Devin Williams, Cionel Perez and Austin Warren — a big reason neither club wanted to lean on relief any more than it had to.
The result stretched New York's winning streak to 4 and left San Diego 0-1 in the set. For a Padres team leaning on a resurgent Buehler and a Mets club trying to prove its turnaround under Green is real, this one was a reminder both are live wires down to the last pitch.
Padres 1, Mets 2: Final Score & Odds Recap — Buehler's Best Stuff Isn't Enough As Mets Roll To 4 Straight
