New York's issues are more about who's not in the lineup than who's on the mound. Manaea has actually been the more reliable arm of the two lately, but interim manager Andy Green is piecing together an offense without Juan Soto (calf) and Mark Vientos (fractured hand), and rookie Carson Benge is day-to-day with a wrist injury after Friday's win over these same Pirates.
Momentum is a strange thing in this series. The Mets rattled off 4 straight wins, including a sweep of Cleveland, before getting shut out 9-0 by Pittsburgh to open this set. The Pirates went the other direction — swept by Milwaukee before finally snapping that funk with the shutout. Whichever version of each team shows up Sunday probably decides the rubber match.
Both rosters are banged up in ways that matter. Pittsburgh is still without Oneil Cruz in center and Mitch Keller in the rotation, and catcher Endy Rodriguez has been in and out of the lineup. New York's bullpen took its own hits with Cionel Perez and Austin Warren both on the injured list, which puts more pressure on Manaea to go deep and spare a taxed relief corps. Paul Skenes has said publicly he still believes in this Pirates club — Sunday is a chance to back that up against a division rival on the schedule.