They exorcised demons in Atlanta on Monday and one night later, the New York Mets made a statement against a team that had dominated them during the regular season.
A five-run, two-out rally sparked by a pair of RBI singles from Mark Vientos and JD Martinez in the fifth inning lifted the Mets to a big Game 1 win in the NL Wild Card Series over the Brewers in Milwaukee on Tuesday night, 8-4, to take an early advantage in the best-of-three series.
Trailing 4-3 heading into the decisive frame and with the Brewers subbing starting pitcher Freddy Peralta for Joel Payamps, Starling Marte was robbed of a home run by left fielder Jackson Chourio before Tyrone Taylor doubled and Francisco Alvarez flew out.
Francisco Lindor worked a walk before Jose Iglesias’ sharp grounder to first was snared by Rhys Hoskins, but the Mets’ veteran sparkplug beat Payamps to the bag while Taylor scored from second.
While the Brewers turned to Aaron Ashby to stop the bleeding, Brandon Nimmo singled to load the bases before Vientos singled in a pair. Milwaukee intentionally walked Pete Alonso to get to the previously struggling Martinez, who recently worked out of an 0-for-36 slump, and the move backfired.
Martinez poked a single the other way through the hole into right field to score another pair, making it an 8-4 game.
It was a big enough cushion for starting pitcher Luis Severino to gut through six innings despite not being at his best on Tuesday night. The veteran right-hander limited the damage and kept the Mets close in the process, yielding four runs on eight hits with three strikeouts and two walks.
He was immediately touched up for a pair by the Brewers in the bottom of the first. William Contreras drove in Brice Turang, who led off the game with a double and went X-for-X in Game 1 to give the hosts the lead.
Severino then hit Hoskins with the bases loaded to bring in a second run with two outs, but the Mets’ starter rebounded to get a Sal Frelick groundout to keep the deficit at a pair.
The Mets punched back with a trio of runs in the top of the second. With two men on, Jesse Winker made good on Carlos Mendoza’s decision to start him at DH by lining a triple down the right-field line. All the while, he jawed at Brewers shortstop Willy Adames — perhaps rehashing some old feuds when the two were teammates in Milwaukee last year or when Winker spent four years with the NL Central rival Cincinnati Reds for four years.
Marte drove Winker home with a sacrifice fly to center to give the Mets the lead.
The Brewers nabbed two more in the fourth when Chourio singled home a run and William Contreras brought in another with a ground out, but it was the last success they would find against Mets pitching, which retired 17 straight to end the game.
Severino ended his night by retiring eight straight to get through six innings, ending with 105 pitches.
Jose Butto relieved him by continuing his breakout as a reliable multi-inning reliever, setting down six straight over two clean innings with three strikeouts. Ryne Stanek took the ninth, allowing the Mets to give the overworked Edwin Diaz the night of, and closed the Brewers out without incident.
