When keeping it friendly goes wrong.
Mets analyst Ron Darling indicated that Nolan McLean doomed himself Tuesday night by patting on his chest to indicate “My bad” to Byron Buxton after an inside pitch in the Mets’ 5-3 loss to the Twins.
Buxton homered on the next pitch to slice the Mets’ lead to 3-2 in the sixth inning and galvanize Minnesota’s rally that ultimately sent the Mets to a humiliating 12th straight loss.
“The pitch prior, almost hit Buxton. A lot of the pitches have been inside the entire game. They were teammates the (World Baseball Classic),” Darling said. “McLean said, looked at Buxton, they had met eyes, said, ‘My bad, my bad. I shouldn’t do that.’ You know what happens to a hitter when he hears that? One-hundred percent, the next pitch is not going to be inside. It’s going to be away.
“He’s a smart hitter and took advantage of it. I know what McLean’s doing. That’s being a good citizen. You don’t need to do that out there.”
Tuesday marked just McLean’s 13th career start and perhaps this will be a moment that sticks with him.
Ron Darling explains how Nolan McLean gave Byron Buxton an advantage before homering off him because he apologized for throwing too far inside the pitch before.
“You know what happens to a hitter when he hears that? 100% the next pitch will be away.” pic.twitter.com/jcxufHqdRC
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) April 22, 2026
He carried a perfect game into the sixth inning while nursing a 3-0 lead before allowing a leadoff single to Matt Wallner.
Buxton came to the plate with two outs and McLean fired a 2-1 pitch up and in to the righty batter that nearly hit him, which led to McLean patting his chest.
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The next pitch, a 90-mph cutter, caught way too much of the plate and Buxton swatted his fourth homer of the season to get the Twins on the board.
Darling called the moment part of “growing and learning” before SNY showed the recap of McLean patting his chest.
“You never want to do that,” Darling said. “And if you’re sitting on something outside, you can see on the overhead, he made the adjustment and Buxton’s just so strong…”
McLean ultimately surrendered three runs in 6 ⅔ innings while striking out 10, earning a no-decision before Devin Williams imploded in the ninth inning.
He tipped his hat to his WBC teammate.
“I made a pitch to (Buxton) and he made a great swing on it,” McLean said. “Obviously hindsight, maybe I go to a different pitch but I executed it pretty well.”
