Fresh off his promotion from Triple-A Buffalo, young left-hander Jonathon Niese will try to keep the good feelings going for the Mets tonight when he faces the Pirates in the opener of a three-game series at Citi Field. Niese, who was 1-1 with a 7.07 ERA in a limited audition with the Mets late last season, was called up to replace Oliver Perez when the struggling Perez was put on the DL with knee tendinitis after a horrible start.

Niese will square off against Pittsburgh righty Jeff Karstens, who has a 1-1 record and 5.85 ERA for the 12-16 Pirates.

Jerry Manuel, whose club has won four in a row while sweeping NL East rivals Atlanta and Philadelphia in consecutive two-game series, is going back to his usual lineup but has Luis Castillo in the No. 2 hole instead of Daniel Murphy and will bat Ryan Church eighth.

Here is the 14-13 Mets’ order for the 7:10 p.m. game:

Jose Reyes SS

Luis Castillo 2B

Carlos Beltran CF

Carlos Delgado 1B

David Wright 3B

Daniel Murphy LF

Omir Santos C

Ryan Church RF

Jonathon Niese LHP (debut)