Mets fall to 0-2 after Rhys Hoskins, Brewers get the best of them again
Yohan Ramirez and manager Carlos Mendoza of the Mets walk to the dugout after Ramirez was ejected from a game against the Brewers in the seventh inning at Citi Field on Saturday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Yohan Ramirez, a nondescript reliever who barely made the team out of spring training, etched his name into the narrative of the Mets’ new season Saturday with one wild pitch that maybe wasn’t so wild.
In the seventh inning of the Mets’ 7-6 loss, he threw behind the Brewers’ Rhys Hoskins and was ejected. During his walk back to the dugout, Ramirez received a standing ovation from the Citi Field crowd, which had booed Hoskins, the marquee villain of the weekend, to no avail all afternoon.
A day earlier, Hoskins drew the ire of Jeff McNeil with a late slide into second base, triggering a benches-clearing episode. In the hours before Ramirez’s pitch, he answered each round of jeers from fans with a hit, going 3-for-3 with a home run and four RBIs.
He reached base four times, drawing a walk against Jorge Lopez after Ramirez’s departure, to power Milwaukee to another victory.
Through two games, the Mets have no wins and lots of Hoskins-centric frustration. This one remained a loss despite late homers from Pete Alonso and Brett Baty and Edwin Diaz’s first appearance since 2022.
“I know it looks really, really bad,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “But we’re not trying to hit anybody there.”
Ramirez said the same, and Brewers manager Pat Murphy agreed that that probably was true. But intent didn’t matter, in Hoskins’ view.
“Big-leaguers don’t miss by eight feet,” he said. “Whether or not it was on purpose, that’s not for me to decide. I really don’t care. But this game has had a way of policing itself for many, many, many years. So let’s focus on doing it the right way if we’re going to do that.”
Asked if there are occasions when he wants his team to send a message by pitching inside, Mendoza declined to comment.
In defense of Ramirez, Mendoza noted his control issues; he hit batters with pitches 11 times in 38 1⁄3 innings last season. Ramirez blamed the cool weather for robbing him of his usual grip on his sinker, which was meant to go inside and “just happened to go further in.”
He pleaded that case to the umpires before they kicked him out of the game.
“They didn’t really care what I was telling them,” Ramirez, 28, said through an interpreter. “They did what they had to do there.”
As for Ramirez’s sprint toward the plate immediately after the pitch? He said he was covering home plate, even though the only baserunner was on first base (and was not, say, coming home from third or even second).
Mendoza said Ramirez was pursuing the ball, which bounced right to catcher Francisco Alvarez.
“That tells you right there he’s not looking for trouble,” Mendoza said.
Ramirez insisted: “At no point am I trying to hit a batter in that situation.”
Unlike the season opener on Friday, this game had real highlights for the Mets.
They trailed by five in the bottom of the eighth. Benched to start the game against lefthander DL Hall, pinch hitter Baty launched a three-run home run off Hoby Milner — also a lefthander — to make it close. Alonso’s solo shot in the ninth cut the deficit to one, but they failed to finish the com eback.
Mendoza, though, was happy that his team showed some fight.
“First pinch-hit home run in a big spot late in the game to put us within reach to get back into the game,” said Baty, who was jubilant as he rounded the bases. “That’s why that emotion came out. And it’s been a chippy start to the year. I felt like that was a big-time homer.”
Luis Severino pitched poorly in his Mets debut: five innings, six runs, 12 hits.
The Brewers struck for three runs — two on Hoskins’ single tucked down the leftfield line — in the first inning. They added two more on Hoskins’ home run in the third.
Hoskins rounded out the damage against Severino by singling, advancing to third on Oliver Dunn’s single (which Alonso failed to corral) and scoring on a balk in the top of the fifth.
“I’m ecstatic about what I was able to do to help us win a game today,” Hoskins said. “We won a series on the road to start the year in a place where it’s not easy to do so. I’m stoked about that.”
Severino said: “They hit a bunch of base hits. And then . . . what’s the name of that guy? The DH?”
Hoskins.
“Hoskins got me for a homer on a breaking pitch right in the middle,” he said. “The breaking ball was not there today.”
His next two starts are scheduled to come at the Reds’ infamously hitter-friendly ballpark and against powerhouse Atlanta.
“I need to fix it,” Severino said, “and fix it quick.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
