Oct. 3 – MILWAUKEE — Garrett Mitchell hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning and rookie Jackson Jolio hit a two-run homer to help the Milwaukee Brewers beat the New York Mets 5-3 on Wednesday in the National League Wild.
The Brewers will host the deciding game of their best-of-three series on Thursday.
Jolio, who walked most of the first inning, hit a 398-foot solo home run to right-center off Phil Marten (0-1) to start the eighth and tie the game 3-3. Willy Adames singled with two outs, then Mitchell sent the next pitch over the center field wall.
Devin Williams made 14 of 15 save chances in regulation and pitched a perfect ninth to preserve the win. Joe Ross (1-0) got the win after pitching 1 1/3 scoreless innings.
“Once again, you see what our team is doing, what they’ve been doing all year,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “A lot of contributors, a lot of guys gave us everything they had. They didn’t give up.”
The sixth-seeded Mets, who clinched a playoff spot by winning the first game of a makeup doubleheader in Atlanta on Monday, scored two runs in Game 2 to take a 3-1 lead. Milwaukee leads 3-2 in the fifth inning.
Milwaukee has lost six consecutive games in the postseason and is 1–10 in the postseason, starting with a loss to the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 7 of the 2018 National League Championship Series.
New York took advantage of a Brewers mistake in the second inning. When pitcher Frankie Montas takes a routine pitch from first baseman Rhys Hoskins while blocking the bag, Starling Marte throws a one-out ground ball. Tyrone Taylor and Francisco Alvarez then hit two consecutive singles to score Marte. Francisco Lindor added a sacrifice fly.
Montas lasted only 3 2/3 innings, giving up three runs on six hits and one earned run. He had three strikeouts and one walk.
Mets starter Sean Manaea allowed two runs on six hits in five innings, allowing one base hit. He struck out four batters.
In the fifth inning, Brice Turang hit a double down the left field line, advanced on a grounder and scored on Blake Perkins’s sacrifice fly to narrow the margin to 3–2.
The Mets took the lead in the sixth inning by intentionally walking Lindor with a single and two outs, but Joel Payamps struck out José Iglesias.
New York took a 1–0 lead in the first quarter when Lindor loaded the bases, Iglesias scored on a fielder’s choice, and Mark Vientos and Brandon Nimmo scored on back-to-back singles.
“We’ve been proving it all year,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said while watching Game 3. “We were down, but we have the ability to get back up. And here we are.”
——Jim Hoehn, Field Level Media
