Nolan McLean made his first start of the 2026 season. Although he wasn’t at his sharpest, he still delivered a solid performance. He pitched five innings, allowing four hits and two earned runs while striking out eight batters. One of the earned runs came from a home run hit by Brandon Lowe, marking the first time McLean has given up a homer to a left-handed batter.

Out of the bullpen, Huascar Brazobán and Sean Manaea combined to keep the Pirates scoreless through the eighth inning. In his season debut, Manaea threw 29 pitches and averaged 88.7 mph on his fastball, down from 91.7 mph last year.

Luke Weaver handled the ninth inning, working through a challenging 22-pitch frame that included a leadoff walk and a sacrifice bunt. However, he ultimately escaped unscathed, striking out Oneil Cruz and getting Bryan Reynolds to groundout. Mets pitchers totaled 12 strikeouts during the game.

Offensively, the Mets were quiet, scoring just twice in the first eight innings while striking out 16 times and leaving seven on base. Their only runs came from a Marcus Semien sacrifice fly in the second inning and a Juan Soto RBI single in the fifth, which followed a triple by Francisco Lindor. After striking out in each of their first two at-bats, Lindor and Soto later teamed up to tie the game and chase Carmen Mlodzinski from the mound. Lindor, Soto, Luis Robert Jr., and Brett Baty each recorded multiple hits, while Luis Torrens contributed one hit for himself.

After a scoreless bottom of the ninth, Richard Lovelady made his second appearance of the season but started poorly by allowing a hit to Ryan O’Hearn, which brought the free runner home and gave the Pirates a 3-2 lead. Following a double play and a few more runners on base, Lovelady then surrendered a base hit to Henry Davis, extending the Pirates’ lead to two runs. In this second back-to-back outing, Lovelady struggled, giving up two runs on 26 pitches and issuing two walks, and would take the loss after getting the win the night before. An interesting decision by manager Carlos Mendoza to say the least.

Jose Urquidy came in to close the game for the Pirates. After walking Francisco Lindor, he allowed a run-scoring double to Juan Soto, which drove in the free runner. However, the second runner was thrown out at the plate in an extremely questionable send by third base coach Tim Leiper. Jorge Polanco came within feet of a walk-off homer, but the ball was caught right before the fence.

Player of The Game: Francisco Lindor

After a slow start in the first two games, Francisco Lindor had a breakout performance, going 2-for-4 with a walk and a run scored. He hit a triple and was driven in by Juan Soto to tie the game in the fifth inning. This marked Lindor’s first multi-hit game and is a promising sign of progress as he continues to recover and play following his hamate bone procedure.

On Deck

The Mets are back in action Monday as they hit the road to face the Cardinals in St. Louis. Clay Holmes will make his first start of the season after a solid performance during spring training with the Mets. Meanwhile, Kyle Leahy will make his debut as a starter for the Cardinals. The game is scheduled to begin at 7:45 pm local time and will be broadcast on SNY and Mets Radio 880.

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Leiper’s professional coaching career began in the Mets organization in 1996. He managed in the minor leagues in the Expos, Red Sox, Pirates, and Marlins organizations before landing his first major league job as the first base coach for the Blue Jays in 2014. Leiper spent five years in that role and was dismissed after the 2018 season. He also spent time on the coaching staff for the Canadian national team.

With Leiper hired, the Mets have filled three of their openings. He joins a coaching staff including newly-hired hitting coach Troy Snitker and bench coach Kai Correa, as well as the recently-promoted hitting director Jeff Albert. The team still needs to fill the coaching void left by Antoan Richardson at first base, and they need to hire a pitching coach to replace the recently dismissed Jeremy Hefner.

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