MILWAUKEE — Jackson Chourio tied the score in the eighth with his second homer of the night and Garrett Mitchell hit a two-run shot later in the inning to give the Milwaukee Brewers a 5-3 victory over the New York Mets Wednesday, tying their NL Wild Card Series.
The teams will play a decisive Game 3 on Thursday evening. The Brewers will try to become the first team to win a best-of-three Wild Card series after losing the first game since MLB moved to this expanded playoff format in 2022.
Milwaukee trailed 3-2 when Chourio led off the eighth with a home run to right center off losing pitcher Phil Maton, making his fourth appearance on the mound in five days. The 20-year-old rookie also led off the bottom of the first inning with a blast to right against Sean Manaea, becoming the youngest player to hit a first home run in the postseason.
After Blake Perkins singled and William Contreras drove into a double play, Willy Adames kept the eighth inning alive with a single. Mitchell then sent a first-pitch curveball just over the wall in right-center, a 390-foot shot that sent the American Family Field crowd into a frenzy.
Devin Williams struck out the side to earn the save in the ninth. Joe Ross got the win after throwing 1 1/3 scoreless reliefs.
Chourio is the second-youngest player to hit two homers in a postseason, behind 19-year-old Andruw Jones, for Atlanta in the 1996 World Series opener at Yankee Stadium.
The Mets took the lead in the second inning after a Brewers pitcher again made a critical error around first base.
With the score tied at 1, the Mets had one out and no one in the second when Starling Marte hit a routine grounder to first baseman Rhys Hoskins, whose throw bounced off Frankie Montas’ glove as the right-hander was going to cover the bag. .
After Montas failed to catch Hoskins’ throw, he failed to get the Mets’ next two batters out. Tyrone Taylor and Francisco Alvarez hit back-to-back singles, the latter bringing home Marte. Francisco Lindor followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Taylor.
It was the second straight night the Mets rallied after a Brewers pitcher botched a play to first base. New York trailed 4-3 with two outs in the fifth inning of their 8-4 victory Tuesday when Joel Payamps was late to get to first base on a grounder to Hoskins, allowing Jose Iglesias to slide head-first safely safety to trigger a five-point explosion.
Milwaukee got a run in the fifth when Brice Turang hit a double and scored on Perkins’ sacrifice fly.
FOLLOWING
Rookie RHP Tobias Myers (9-6, 3.00 ERA) will start for the Brewers in Game 3. The Mets had not announced a starter for Game 3, although LHP Jose Quintana (10-10, 3.75 ERA) was the most likely candidate.
