Mets drop series to Brewers with 4-3 loss
· Yahoo Sports
The Mets opened their second half by taking two of three against the Philadelphia. Today, after splitting the first two games of their series against the Brewers, they sought to win their second straight series against a playoff contender. Could they do it and show the world that, despite all the struggles, the 2026 Mets would spend the second half playing at least a respectable level of baseball?
Nah. We had another fairly boring loss instead, with an inefficient starting pitching performance and limited offense resulted in a 4-3 loss to the Brewers.
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Just like last night, the Mets got the scoring started against rookie starter Logan Henderson with a solo homer in the top of the second inning—this time off the bat of Marcus Semien, his first homer since returning from the injured list. This time around, however, the Brewers were able to quickly turn around and get the lead right back. After a scoreless first, Christian Scott started the bottom of the second by surrendering a walk and single, respectively, to put runners on first and third with nobody out. He came close to getting out of the inning unscathed after inducing an infield pop-up and striking out Cooper Pratt to get to two outs, but then Joey Ortiz hit a long fly ball to right field. Most outfielders would probably have been able to make that play, but unfortunately for Scott and the Mets, Brett Baty was the guy standing in right field this afternoon. He took an awkward route going back on the ball and was ultimately unable to make the play, resulting in two runs scoring and Ortiz ending up on third with a triple. Scott’s line was thus damaged thanks to Baty’s misplay—but he then did himself no favors by subsequently allowing a single to Christian Yelich to bring Ortiz home from third. Thus, the score stood at 3-1 at the end of two.
Those would be the only runs that Scott would give up on the afternoon, but as has often been the case for him this season, he didn’t last particularly long in the game. Even outside of his second inning, he struggled with a high pitch count and was removed from the game in the bottom of the fourth with two outs and runners on first and second. While Cionel Pérez was able to come on and record the final out of the inning to preserve Scott’s ERA, the final line—3.2 innings, 4 hits, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts, 3 runs—was in-line with some of the other frustrating outings we’ve seen from the young pitcher this year.
In the fifth inning, Baty partially redeemed himself for his misplay in the field earlier by socking a one-out solo homer off Henderson to make it a 3-2 ballgame. The Brewers almost came back and added on to their lead in the bottom of the frame, as Pérez came back out to the mound and quickly loaded the bases (in part thanks to an infield single to third in which Bo Bichette’s throw to try to get the force-out at second base proved to be late on replay review). But the Mets managed to get out of the inning unscathed, as Pérez managed to record a strikeout and Huascar Brazobán then came on to induce a double play.
Unfortunately, their luck would not extend to the following inning. After recording the first two outs of the sixth, Ortiz—in the midst of an afternoon in which he would fall just a home run shy of a cycle—hit a ground-rule double, which ejected Brazobán from the game in favor of A.J. Minter. The lefty’s job was to get Christian Yelich out to end the inning. Instead, the veteran slugger drilled a ball to center that bounced off the outfield wall enough for him to make it all the way to third base. The runner at second scored, and it was now a two-run deficit.
That extra run would prove to be crucial in the end. While Minter and Daniel Duarte would go on to combine to hold the Brewers scoreless in the seventh and eighth innings, the bats were initially struggling to get anything going against the Milwaukee bullpen once Henderson exited after five innings. Aaron Ashby tossed two scoreless innings, and Abner Uribe also held the Amazins off the board. They did have a chance in that eighth inning, as Francisco Lindor and Carson Benge hit singles to put runners on first and second. With two outs in the frame, Jorge Polanco hit a ground ball that looked like it might squeak through the infield, but Brice Turang ran it down and made a terrific throw to get the out at first by a step to end the threat.
The offense finally did come through briefly in the top of the ninth when Trevor Megill came on for the save. After a leadoff walk, Tyrone Taylor advanced to second on a fielder’s choice grounder. Luis Torrens (who had come on to play first base when Jared Young was pinch-hit for earlier) lined out to right for the second out, but Francisco Alvarez then knocked a single through the hole to left field to bring a run home to make it a 4-3 ballgame and put the tying run at first and the go-ahead run at the plate. But there was to be no comeback today, as Ewing hit a sharp grounder to third base, and Ortiz capped off his excellent afternoon by making a diving stop to field the ball and throw him out at third to end the game. Thus, the Mets dropped the series in Milwaukee, and will now enjoy a day off before facing off against another powerhouse National League team when they begin a three-game series against the Dodgers this weekend.
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Box scores
Win Probability Added
Big Mets winner: Huascar Brazobán, +15% WPA
Big Mets loser: Christian Scott, -19% WPA
Mets pitchers: -15% WPA
Mets hitters: -35% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Brett Baty solo homer in the fifth, +11.1% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Joey Ortiz two-run triple in the second, -20.7% WPA