MLB Playoff Results: Mets 8, Brewers 4 – Mets make a statement in Game 1

At this point in the season, it would be foolish to count the Mets out. After falling behind twice in the first four innings of Game 1 of the Wild Card Series, the Mets rallied strongly to take the lead twice, and the second rally put them ahead for good as they won 8-4. Considering the wild ride the team embarked on just yesterday afternoon in Atlanta, it was an impressive achievement – and a statement at the start of the playoffs.

The first inning wasn’t the Mets’ best. Freddy Peralta put the top three batters in order to start the inning, and Luis Severino gave up two runs very quickly. The Brewers took a 2-0 lead early in the second inning – and couldn’t hold the lead for more than a few minutes.

Mark Vientos hit a single and Pete Alonso walked. Jesse Winker – who hadn’t played much, had struggled mightily in September and had joined the Mets’ poor back club in recent days – drilled a three down the right field line to tie the game. Starling Marte followed suit and hit a sac fly to beat Winker, giving the Mets their first lead of the night.

Neither pitcher allowed a run in the third, and Peralta retired the Mets in order in the fourth. Severino faltered again in the bottom of that inning when he gave up a double, an infield single and another single, allowing the Brewers to tie the game at 3-0. An error by Tyrone Taylor to center field on that single put runners on second and third.

Severino was in full swing, but the veteran released a groundball that scored the Brewers’ fourth run and put the Mets behind, and he got out of the inning without further damage.

And then came the bottom of the fifth inning, which was almost as fantastic as the eighth inning yesterday in Atlanta. The Brewers went to the bullpen early and called up Joel Payamps, and Starling Marte almost immediately tied the game with a smoked line drive to left field. Unfortunately, Jackson Chourio caught it with a spectacular play that looked like it would save a home run.

On the very next play, however, Chourio missed a line drive off Taylor’s stick, a fairly routine play that he ran over and helped turn into a double. The Mets were invited to take advantage of an opportunity and obliged.

Francisco Alvarez flied out, but the inning was far from over. Francisco Lindor walked, and Jose Iglesias followed with a ground ball to first and blasted it down the line, sliding head first to beat Payamps to the sack first and reach it safely. Taylor scored the game-tying score, and the Mets were just getting started.

The Brewers pulled payamps for Aaron Ashby and Brandon Nimmo reached on an infield single. Mark Vientos had the biggest hit of his young career, drilling a single into right field to score two runs and give the Mets a 6-4 lead. After Ashby fell behind 2-0 to Pete Alonso, the Brewers decided to intentionally walk him and Carlos Mendoza hit JD Martinez with a pinch hit for Jesse Winker to take advantage of a move that worked in his team’s favor impacted. The move worked perfectly as Martinez hit a single through the right side to complete the Mets’ seventh and eighth runs of the game.

That was it for the Mets’ score, but it was more than enough. Severino ended up throwing two more innings, which was an outstanding help to his team after he was almost thrown out of the game in the fourth inning. José Buttó easily threw two scoreless innings, and there was an argument for letting him finish the game. But Ryne Stanek pitched a scoreless ninth with no problems. The Mets’ recently revamped relievers all got a night off.

The Mets are a very good team, and they are very good at the right times. #LoveTheMets

SB Nation Game Threads

Amazing avenue
Brew Crew Ball

Box scores

MLB.com
ESPN

Added win probability

FanGraphs

What is WPA?

Big Mets winner: Mark Vientos, +24.0% WPA
Big Mets losers: Luis Severino, -16.9% WPA (hard!)
Mets pitcher: -8.6% WPA
Mets hitter: +58.6% WPA
The aw3s0mest game: Mark Vientos drives in two runs to give the Mets the lead in the fifth, +22.3% WPA
The sux0rest game: Jackson Chourio singles in a run in the first, -18.5% WPA