Mets lose ugly to Brewers in Francisco Lindor's return
The Mets' Francisco Alvarez exits the field with coaches and trainers after suffering an injury at third base during the seventh inning of a game against the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday in Milwaukee. Credit: AP/Aaron Gash
MILWAUKEE — Maybe those rainouts weren’t so bad after all.
When the Mets actually had to play baseball Friday night, their first game in three days, it devolved into a total mess.
They lost to the Brewers, 8-4. Francisco Alvarez exited in the seventh inning because of back spasms. Francisco Lindor looked hurt in his return from his own ongoing back injury. Sean Manaea contributed his worst start in more than three months. Manager Carlos Mendoza got ejected for arguing balls and strikes. Milwaukee stole six bases in six tries. And the Mets committed one error and another misplay.
Altogether, that left the Mets (87-71) in a virtual tie for the second and third National League wild-card spots with Atlanta (87-71) and Arizona (88-72).
The Mets still could guarantee themselves a postseason berth as early as Sunday. Their magic number to clinch a berth over Arizona is three. Over Atlanta, five.
“It sucks. We’re fighting for our [playoff] lives over here,” Manaea said. “To do that doesn’t feel good. But this team is resilient. Get ’em tomorrow.”
Lindor said: “The Brewers played better than us today. Tip our cap to them and come back and try to beat them.”
And Alvarez: “We feel bad because we lost, but we have to keep going.”
After almost everything went wrong for the Mets in the first seven-plus innings, they brought the potential tying run to the plate in the eighth. Milwaukee (92-68) turned to one of its best relievers, Trevor Megill, brother of the Mets’ Tylor Megill, to face Luis Torrens, who had replaced Alvarez an inning earlier. Torrens flied out to rightfield on the first pitch.
Alvarez’s injury occurred just before he slid into third base on Tyrone Taylor’s groundout in the seventh. He immediately was in significant pain, lying face down in the dirt. After getting up a couple of minutes later, he limped off the field.
After the game, Alvarez felt much better and didn’t rule out playing Saturday.
“I was feeling scared. Now I’m feeling very good,” he said. “My back is doing way better. I feel just a little bit tight. Let’s see tomorrow how it’s going to feel.”
The Brewers took a four-run lead in the first inning on Rhys Hoskins’ two-out grand slam.
Manaea allowed six runs (five earned) and seven hits in 3 2⁄3 innings. He walked two — both with two outs in the first inning, loading the bases for Hoskins — and struck out one. “We didn’t get a couple of calls early, then he left that one to Hoskins with the bases loaded and he got him,” Mendoza said. “Two-seam right down the middle.”
Mendoza got ejected in the fourth inning after defending Alvarez, who was furious that plate umpire Ramon De Jesus called strike three on a pitch that appeared to be low — one of several close zone calls that did not favor the Mets.
“He’s just missing a pitch. He’s a person too, so he can miss any pitch,” Alvarez said. “In the moment . . . I really don’t have to do that. I’m going to say sorry tomorrow.”
The Brewers — who at 92-68 are the NL Central champions and will host the Mets, Diamondbacks or Atlanta in the first round of the playoffs beginning Tuesday — have little to play for this weekend. But by beating the Mets, they pushed them toward needing to play both games in a makeup doubleheader Monday in Atlanta. That could benefit Milwaukee come postseason.
“That’s a really talented team,” said Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns, who ran the Brewers for seven seasons through 2022. “They’ve earned their record. No question, they’ve earned their record.”
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.
