Rookie Nolan McLean, Mets look to shut down Pirates again

Nolan McLean officially has moved from prospect to rookie status, but it seems as if he has been a veteran from his first day with the New York Mets.

McLean will make his season debut Sunday afternoon as the Mets look to complete a season-opening sweep of the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates in the finale of a three-game set.

McLean (5-1, 2.06 ERA in 2025) is slated to start against fellow right-hander Carmen Mlodzinski (5-8, 3.55 ERA in 2025).

The Mets overcame a pair of deficits in extra frames Saturday, when Luis Robert Jr. hit a three-run walk-off homer in the 11th inning to lift New York to a 4-2 win. The game was scoreless heading into extra innings.

Robert's dramatics ensured McLean wouldn't take the mound following a Mets loss. That was a familiar task last year for McLean, who pitched after a New York loss five times in eight starts.

The Mets went 6-2 in McLean's starts following his promotion Aug. 16 and 13-19 with anyone else on the mound as they completed a second-half collapse and were eliminated from wild-card contention on the final day of the season. New York had the best record in baseball at 45-24 through June 12 but went just 38-55 thereafter.

McLean, who retained rookie eligibility heading into 2026 because he was on the active roster for 44 days and threw 48 innings -- one day and two innings shy of the rookie maximums, respectively -- continued emerging in the spotlight this spring when he made two starts for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic. The 24-year-old started the championship game against Venezuela and allowed two runs in 4 2/3 innings in Venezuela's 3-2 win.

"If anyone is built for something like this, it's Nolan, with how much and how quickly (things have) been thrown at him," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. "We saw it when he came up and how he handled it and then recently with the WBC, playing one of the biggest games -- besides playing playoffs or the World Series -- and how he handled it."

The Pirates have been frustrated with how they've handled clutch situations through the first two games. They stranded 10 runners on Friday and 17 more Saturday -- the most by the club since Aug. 24, 2018, when Pittsburgh stranded 19 runners in a 7-6, 15-inning loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Pirates were 2-for-18 with runners in scoring position on Saturday, with the RBI hits coming in extra innings. Nick Gonzales snapped the scoreless tie with an RBI single in the 10th before Bryan Reynolds put the visitors ahead again with a run-scoring infield single in the 11th.

Pittsburgh had just one extra-base hit on Saturday -- a ninth-inning double by Jake Mangum -- after collecting three homers and three doubles in its 11-7 loss on Thursday.

"That's tough, but we'll be better. As we go through (the season), we have to find a way to push those runs across," Pirates manager Don Kelly said following Saturday's game. "We played offensively during the opener. Today, with runners in scoring position, it kind of evaded us. But we are going to be better at it."

McLean has yet to oppose the Pirates. Mlodzinski is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in two relief appearances against the Mets.

--Field Level Media