Pete Alonso, Mets stun Brewers with comeback win in Game 3, advance to NLDS
Pete Alonso #20 of the New York Mets rounds the bases after hitting a home run in the ninth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers during Game Three of the Wild Card Series at American Family Field on October 03, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Credit: Getty Images/John Fisher
MILWAUKEE — For the Mets, the scene Thursday night felt suddenly familiar, the signature sequence of their week and — if they keep doing all this — their month.
A legacy-shaping moment from one of their best players. A crowded but suddenly quiet ballpark. A celebratory mob in the middle of the field.
With the Mets down to potentially their final two outs of the season, Pete Alonso crushed a go-ahead, three-run homer run off Brewers closer Devin Williams, lifting the Mets to a season-extending, 4-2 victory in Game 3 of the NL Wild Card Series.
The Mets will face the Phillies in the NL Division Series, beginning 4 p.m. Saturday in Philadelphia.
The dramatic scene mirrored the Mets’ dramatics Monday in Atlanta, when Francisco Lindor’s top-of-the-ninth, game-winning homer pushed them to a playoff berth on the final day (and second-to-last game) of the regular season.
This time, it was Lindor again who got things started, helping the Mets’ bats awaken from a game-long slumber by working a leadoff walk. Brandon Nimmo’s single through the right side put runners on the corners, bringing up Alonso — who had not homered since Sept. 19 — as the would-be winning run.
Williams left a changeup on the outer third of the plate. Alonso lined it to rightfield. It eked over the wall. As he rounded first, the sold-out Milwaukee crowd stunned into silence, Alonso offered a chef’s kiss . The rest of the Mets flooded out of the dugout.
Starling Marte’s RBI single brought in Jesse Winker, who was hit by a pitch, for a key insurance run.
Lefthanded starter David Peterson tossed a scoreless ninth for the series-ending save. He allowed a leadoff single to Sal Frelick, but Brice Turang grounded into a double play to finish the game.
A pitchers’ duel became a battle of the bullpens in the middle innings, and the Mets cracked first. After six scoreless innings from Jose Quintana, the Mets turned to Jose Butto, perhaps their best setup man, for the bottom half of the Milwaukee lineup. He preceded to allow back-to-back homers to Jake Bauers and Frelick.
Bauers’ shot, to rightfield, traveled an estimated 405 feet, triggering a mound visit by the Mets’ infielders to give Butto a moment to collect himself.
It did not work. The next batter, Frelick launched his shot 408 feet.
Frelick entered the postseason with the longest homerless streak in the majors, stretching 333 at-bats (plus nine more in this series). He had not gone deep since May 15.
Mendoza designed his lineup in part around a bullpen-heavy game that never quite materialized. He moved Jose Iglesias down from second to fifth, for example, to create more lefty/righty balance. And he selected Winker over J.D. Martinez as the designated hitter in anticipation of the Brewers’ parade of nasty righthanded relievers, against whom Winker theoretically would fare better.
But then the game played out it a mostly normal way, with the starting pitcher carrying the load. Righthander Tobias Myers, a virtual nobody entering the season who posted a 3.00 ERA as a 26-year-old rookie, shut the Mets down for five innings: two hits, no runs, no walks, five strikeouts.
Manager Pat Murphy and the Brewers yanked him at 66 pitches after he faced 18 batters, going through the Mets’ lineup precisely twice.
Lindor went 2-for-2 against Myers. The rest of the Mets went 0-for-15.
Lindor led off the game by legging out a double to right-centerfield. But Mark Vientos, Nimmo and Alonso went down in order.
Lindor singled with two outs in the third and advanced to second on a wild pitch. But the Mets left him there again when Vientos’ fly ball died at the warning track in right.
The Mets played their pitching a bit more aggressively, with Mendoza riding Quintana for six innings.
After Quintana, the veteran lefthander, got that far without allowing a run, Mendoza pulled him at 94 pitches. He scattered four hits and one walk — exactly one baserunner in each of the first five frames — and held Milwaukee batters to an 0-for-7 line with runners in scoring position.
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.
