Mets take Game 1 vs. Brewers thanks to five-run fifth inning, Luis Severino's late turnaround
Mets' Brandon Nimmo, Harrison Bader, and Tyrone Taylor celebrate after Game 2 of a National League wild card baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in Milwaukee. The Mets won 8-4. Credit: AP/Morry Gash
MILWAUKEE — As Luis Severino teetered — lead lost, pitch count climbing, meat of the Milwaukee batting order due up — Carlos Mendoza stayed on the top step of the visitors’ dugout, mulling his options but holding, holding, holding, hoping not to go so early to a bullpen so thin.
Instead, he sent out his pitching coach, Jeremy Hefner, for the Mets’ third mound visit in less than four innings. Reliever Jose Butto was about ready to enter. Severino and Hefner met for a moment. Then, all of a sudden, the stormy waters quieted. A back-and-forth affair became rhythmic and routine. Severino stabilized, and so too did the Mets’ season — again.
They beat the Brewers, 8-4, Tuesday night to grab the all-important first game in this best-of-three NL Wild Card Series. If the Mets win once more Wednesday or Thursday, they’ll advance to the Division Series against the Phillies.
In the brief history of this round of the baseball playoffs, the victors of Game 1 have gone on to win the series 14 times in 16 tries.
The Mets can credit Severino — along with hitting heroes Jose Iglesias, Mark Vientos, J.D. Martinez and Jesse Winker — for gutting out this win and setting them up particularly well for their potential next one.
After Hefner’s chat, he retired the next two Brewers to finish the frame and lasted two more innings after that. Altogether, he set down eight in a row to finish a messy-turned-quality start with an epic finish: six innings, four runs (three earned).
“That’s typical ace stuff,” Francisco Lindor said. “Usually your ace, your No. 1 guy, goes through that one inning. If you don’t get to him in that one inning, it gets tough because they get better as the game went on.”
Mendoza said: “He found a way.”
And Hefner: “He’s been that guy all year. That was incredible to watch.”
The game turned in those middle innings, when Mendoza stuck with his starting pitcher and Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy for some reason bailed on his, Freddy Peralta.
Mendoza leaned on Severino, at a time when the game could’ve gotten away from the Mets, mostly because he was short on relievers following a doubleheader Monday. The Mets didn’t have closer Edwin Diaz and probably couldn’t use top setup man Phil Maton.
Under optimal circumstances, Severino’s outing would’ve ended early. But these Mets were a little desperate.
“I thought I was out [after the fourth],” Severino admitted. “[Mendoza said] whatever you can get me, let's go batter by batter. I went into the fifth inning and it was really quick, so he said the same thing about the next inning.”
Severino’s walk back to the mound for the bottom of the fifth was particularly slow.
“I was a little beat up, I'm not going to lie,” he said. “But the guys gave me a lot of time to rest that I needed there, and I was able to come back.”
Mendoza said: “I was just going to let it play out, but I needed to have somebody ready. I'm just glad he continued to make pitches, and he found a way.”
Murphy, conversely, watched Peralta toss his best frame yet in the top of the fourth — getting Vientos, Pete Alonso and Winker on eight pitches — and with the bottom third of the Mets’ lineup coming up decided that was enough. Peralta allowed three runs in four innings (68 pitches). The Brewers turned aggressively to their rested and vaunted bullpen, which immediately imploded.
“Leaving Freddy in one more inning, maybe we could have,” Murphy said, explaining that he was about an inning’s worth of pitches shy of his limit. “I felt like we'd just took the lead. It had been an emotional 70 pitches.”
Brewers shortstop Willy Adames, shrugging, said of Peralta: "The last two [innings] were amazing. I thought he was getting back to a good rhythm."
Aided by several defensive miscues, the Mets reached Joel Payamps (two outs) and Aaron Ashby (zero outs) for those five runs, all with two outs.
Iglesias brought in the tying run by diving headfirst into first base to turn a grounder to first into a single. Then came the big blows: a go-ahead two-run single for Vientos, an insurance two-run single for pinch-hitter Martinez.
The latter took the juice out of the American Family Field crowd — not a sellout at 40,022 — and, it seemed, the Brewers. The game was all but over. When Severino was done, Butto handled two innings and Ryne Stanek finished it off in the ninth.
Heading into Wednesday, the Mets are likely to get Diaz and Maton back, in addition to having Reed Garrett, Stanek and others available behind starter Sean Manaea.
That depth chart could’ve looked a lot different had Severino not figured it out in the fourth.
“I was out there and it didn’t feel any different,” Hefner said of the mound visit. “It felt like the last four months. Trying to claw back to .500, then trying to make the playoffs. Now this is just the new thing in front of us.”
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.
