Jackson Chourio tied the game in the eighth inning with his second home run of the night, and Garrett Mitchell followed with a two-run homer later in the inning, giving the Milwaukee Brewers a 5-3 win over the New York Mets on Wednesday. This victory evened their NL Wild Card Series.
The teams will face off in a deciding Game 3 on Thursday night. The Brewers are looking to become the first team to win a best-of-three Wild Card Series after losing the first game since MLB expanded the playoff format in 2022.
“We talk about it every night: ‘Win tonight. Do whatever it takes,’” Mitchell said. “And that’s what we did.”
Milwaukee was trailing 3-2 when Chourio hit a homer to right-center at the start of the eighth inning off losing pitcher Phil Maton, who made his fourth appearance in five days. The 20-year-old rookie also hit a leadoff homer in the first inning against Sean Manaea, becoming the youngest player to do so in postseason history.
After Blake Perkins got a single and William Contreras hit into a double play, Willy Adames kept the eighth inning alive with a single. Mitchell then connected on a 390-foot drive just over the wall in right-center, sending the crowd at American Family Field into a frenzy.
“In that situation, it’s like the moment is telling you to speed up, try to do more, swing for the fences, whatever you’re thinking,” Mitchell said.
“For me, it was just like, just attack in the zone. … Be yourself, be relaxed, pass it to the next guy. That was my mentality. I’m not trying to hit a homer there.” He ended up doing just that by hitting a first-pitch curveball.
“Too much plate,” Maton said. “Happy with going first-pitch curveball to get ahead. It was just one of those things where he put a good swing on it. Nine times out of 10, I feel like I get a fly ball to center field for an out. He put a good swing on it.”
New York manager Carlos Mendoza mentioned after the game that closer Edwin Díaz was available, but the Mets preferred not to use him for more than one inning.
Devin Williams retired the side in the ninth inning to earn the save, while Joe Ross got the win after pitching 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.
Milwaukee had been 0-26 in the postseason when trailing going into the eighth inning, according to MLB.com.
Chourio is the second-youngest player to hit two home runs in a postseason game, following 19-year-old Andruw Jones for Atlanta in the 1996 World Series opener at Yankee Stadium. The rookie has shown he can handle postseason pressure, going 4 for 8 in two games.
Now, he has the Brewers just one win away from their first postseason series victory since 2018.
“It’s just been an incredible year,” Chourio said through a translator. “There’s not much more to say than that. It’s been an incredible year for everyone, for all the guys in that clubhouse. I think we saw the fruits that were beared from that.”
The Mets took the lead in the second inning after a Brewers pitcher made a crucial mistake at first base.
With the score tied 1-1, the Mets had one out and nobody on when Starling Marte hit a routine ground ball to first baseman Rhys Hoskins. Hoskins’ throw bounced off Frankie Montas’ glove as Montas moved to cover the bag.
After Montas failed to catch Hoskins’ throw, he couldn’t get the next two Mets hitters out. Tyrone Taylor and Francisco Alvarez both got singles, with Alvarez’s hit bringing Marte home. Francisco Lindor followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Taylor.
“I feel like that’s what started everything,” Montas said about his error. “If I would have made that out, there’s nobody on base. That’s something that definitely cannot happen. In the postseason, you have to get your outs however you can.”
This was the second straight night that the Mets came back after a Brewers pitcher made a mistake at first base.
New York trailed 4-3 with two outs in the fifth inning of their 8-4 win on Tuesday when Joel Payamps was late getting to first on a grounder to Hoskins. This allowed Jose Iglesias to safely slide into first, sparking a five-run rally.
Milwaukee got a run back in the fifth when Brice Turang hit a leadoff double and scored on Perkins’ sacrifice fly. Then the Brewers created a dramatic rally in the eighth inning that tied the series.
Now both teams will have their seasons on the line on Thursday.
“Obviously, losing’s not fun, but we’ve been responding to adversity all year,” Mets first baseman Pete Alonso said. “I’m really excited for this challenge tomorrow. I know they’re equally as excited. This is what the playoffs are all about.”
