bothered by right-calf tightness<\/a>, departed after only a half-inning, leaving the Mets to wonder when their best player will return.\u00a0<\/p>\nSoto singled in the first inning and appeared to pull up between second and third base while advancing on a Bo Bichette RBI single. Now, the Mets, who snapped a three-game skid with a 10-3 victory over the Giants, wait on their $765 million outfielder.\u00a0<\/p>\n
McLean took a perfect game into the sixth but never escaped the inning, his shot at history spoiled by patient at-bats as his pitch count climbed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He lasted 5 \u00b9\/\u2083 innings and allowed two runs, one unearned, on one hit and two walks with four strikeouts and departed after 93 pitches.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Francisco Alvarez led the Mets\u2019 three-homer attack with two blasts (Marcus Semien hit the other) in the Mets\u2019 best showing offensively since their 11-run outburst against the Pirates on Opening Day. Alvarez\u2019s bid at a three-homer game included a shot to the warning track in center field in the eighth inning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
New York Mets\u2019 Nolan McLean (26) pitches to a San Francisco Giants batter during the fifth inning on Friday, April 3, 2026, in San Francisco. AP<\/p>\n
The perfect game watch officially began as McLean breezed through the fifth, easily retiring Matt Chapman and Jung Hoo Lee before working the count full to Heliot Ramos. McLean unleashed a hellacious sweeper that nicked the inside corner for a called third strike.\u00a0<\/p>\n
McLean took the mound for the sixth at 67 pitches and walked Harrison Bader, reducing the quest for perfection to a no-hit watch. McLean worked the count full to Patrick Bailey and walked him, giving the Giants a rally. Jerar Encarnacion worked a nine pitch at-bat before flying out and Willy Adames ended the no-hit drama, and McLean\u2019s night, with a shot that one-hopped the fence in right center for an RBI double.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brooks Raley struck out Rafael Devers, but before the lefty could escape the inning an Alvarez passed ball allowed the Giants\u2019 second run to score.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Francisco Alvarez of the New York Mets celebrates trotting around the bases after hitting a solo home run against the San Francisco Giants in the top of the seventh inning at Oracle Park on April 3, 2026 in San Francisco, California. Getty Images<\/p>\n
The Mets countered in the seventh with Alvarez\u2019s second homer of the night and an RBI single by Luis Robert Jr. that extended the lead to 7-2. Mark Vientos continued the party with an RBI single in the inning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDelivering insights on all things Amazin\u2019s\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Mets by Mike Puma, exclusively on Sports+\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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Bichette was among the offensive heroes with a 3-for-5 performance in easily his best game since arriving to the Mets. The team was without Jorge Polanco, whose left Achilles tendinitis placed him on the bench and raised questions about his near-term availability. Polanco has dealt with discomfort since Sunday, limiting him to the DH spot.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Mets sent eight batters to the plate against Tyler Mahle in the first inning and scored twice, but missed an opportunity to break open the game early. Bichette delivered an RBI single and Robert walked to reload the bases before Brett Baty hit a comebacker that turned into a 1-2-3 double play.\u00a0<\/p>\n
New York Mets left fielder Juan Soto (22) reacts on a call strike against the San Francisco Giants during the first inning at Oracle Park. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
New York Mets\u2019 Marcus Semien, center, celebrates with Carson Benge, left, after hitting a two-run home run during the fourth inning. AP<\/p>\n
But Semien, who snapped an 0-for-20 a night earlier, slashed an RBI single following a walk to Vientos, extending the Mets\u2019 lead to 2-0. The rally started with consecutive singles by Francisco Lindor and Soto.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Semien struck again in the fourth with a two-run homer to center that gave the Mets a 4-0 lead. The blast was Semien\u2019s first in a Mets uniform. Two batters later, Alvarez cleared the center field fence.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ramos\u2019 single in the seventh against Huascar Brazob\u00e1n gave the Giants their second hit. Brazob\u00e1n recovered to retire Bader, ending the inning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Luis Arraez delivered a bloop RBI single in the eighth against Richard Lovelady before Baty stroked an RBI double in the ninth. Carson Benge\u2019s RBI fielder\u2019s choice brought in the Mets\u2019 10th run.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 The bats erupted and Nolan McLean dominated, but Friday night was defined for the Mets…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":662291,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2408],"tags":[5,88,1347,162,134,386,4,61,2517,378,66,4343,4340,4344,4341,4342,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-662290","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-giants","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-bo-bichette","10":"tag-francisco-alvarez","11":"tag-giants","12":"tag-juan-soto","13":"tag-marcus-semien","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-new-york-mets","16":"tag-nolan-mclean","17":"tag-san-francisco","18":"tag-san-francisco-giants","19":"tag-sanfrancisco","20":"tag-sanfranciscogiants","21":"tag-sf","22":"tag-sf-giants","23":"tag-sfgiants","24":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116344844846603443","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}