Friday, August 22, 2025 • 7:15 PM
Truist Park • Atlanta, GA
RHP Nolan McLean (1-0, 0.00) vs. LHP Joey Wentz (4-3, 4.72)
Apple TV+

The Mets are coming off a disappointing series against the Nationals, and it feels like the season is on the line this weekend. That’s not literally the case, though, as the Mets still have a half-game lead on the Cincinnati Reds for the final Wild Card spot in the National League going into play today and there’s a bit more than a month left in the regular season. Mentally, however, the Mets are in a rough spot.

In addition to losing two games against the Nationals, games where the Mets either had a chance to win (Wednesday) or held the lead (Thursday), the club has gone through a sudden rash of injuries. Francisco Alvarez is on the injured list, Brandon Nimmo is out with the same neck injury that has plagued him before and Jeff McNeil is banged up. The Mets are going to need some players to step up right now, and one of them is starting tonight.

Photo Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images

Mets Lineup

  1. Francisco Lindor – SS
  2. Juan Soto – RF
  3. Starling Marte – DH
  4. Pete Alonso – 1B
  5. Mark Vientos – 3B
  6. Brett Baty – 2B
  7. Tyrone Taylor – LF
  8. Cedric Mullins – CF
  9. Hayden Senger – C

Nolan McLean gave a jolt to the Mets’ rotation in his major league debut last weekend. He allowed only two hits and four walks over 5 2/3 scoreless innings while striking out eight batters. Statcast logged six different pitches during his outing. He leaned mostly on his mid-80’s sweeper (36.3% usage). He then mixed in his mid-90’s sinker 26.4% of the time, which had a .125 xBA, and a low-80’s curveball 20.9% of the time. Statcast also picked up nine four-seamers, four cutters and two changeups. The Mets need McLean!

Opposing Lineup

  1. Jurickson Profar – LF
  2. Matt Olson – 1B
  3. Ronald Acuña Jr. – RF
  4. Michael Harris II – CF
  5. Marcell Ozuna – DH
  6. Drake Baldwin – C
  7. Ozzie Albies – 2B
  8. Nacho Alvarez Jr. – 3B
  9. Nick Allen – SS

The Mets’ bats will try to exorcise their woes from the last couple of days against Joey Wentz. Wentz has pitched with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Minnesota Twins and now the Braves this season. Across all of those teams, he has pitched 32 games and made six starts totaling 68 2/3 innings with a 4.72 ERA, 4.16 FIP, 1.383 WHIP and a 90 ERA+. He’s been much better with the Braves, though, tossing 34 2/3 innings with a 2.60 ERA, 3.11 FIP, 0.952 WHIP and a 161 ERA+. In his last two starts, he has allowed only two runs on seven hits over 11 1/3 innings.

The Mets have the following career stats against Wentz:

  • Pete Alonso 1-3, 2B
  • Brett Baty 2-4
  • Francisco Lindor 1-4, HR, K
  • Starling Marte 1-4, 2 K
  • Jeff McNeil 1-3, BB
  • Cedric Mullins 0-5, K
  • Brandon Nimmo 0-4
  • Tyrone Taylor 0-1

Game Notes

  •  Jonathan Santucci turned in a stellar outing for Double-A Binghamton on Thursday. For more, check out our minor league recap!
  • Manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters that Nimmo is improving but isn’t sure if he’s available off the bench tonight. McNeil, on the other hand, had his MRI come back clean and is available despite not being in the starting lineup.
  • Tylor Megill is set to complete the third outing of his rehab assignment with Triple-A Syracuse tonight.

Three Things To Watch For

  1. Francisco Lindor. When the going gets tough for the Mets, they rely on their leader – Francisco Lindor. He went 3-for-5 yesterday at the plate, leading off the game with a home run. He now has a nine-game hitting streak where he has multiple hits in six of those nine games, has reached based at least twice in eight of those contests and has three hits in four of them. The Mets aren’t falling apart right now because of Lindor.
  2. Starling Marte. Alvarez was heating up, going 6-for-12 last weekend before his injury. Nimmo was starting to look more like himself, and McNeil was raking this past week. The Mets are hoping Marte can fill multiple gaps in their lineup left by some crucial hitters. He hit his seventh home run of the season on Thursday night, tying his total from last season.
  3. Which Joey shows up tonight? Joey Wentz had a 10.1 BB/9 in his six games with the Twins this season. With the Braves, that has dropped all the way down to 3.1 BB/9, which is below his career mark of 4.1. With the Braves, he is allowing 0.5 HR/9, considerably lower than his career 1.4 HR/9. The Brewers were able to score five runs off of Wentz at the start of August before his current hot streak.

Let’s go Mets!