Phil Maton’s devastating Mets Wild Card collapse came out of nowhere

MILWAUKEE — Phil Maton was so good, which made Wednesday so surprising.

With the Mets, the right-hander had posted a 2.51 ERA since arriving from the Rays in July.

In the postseason, the eighth-year big leaguer had posted just a 0.83 ERA – two runs in 21²/₃ innings – mostly with the Astros.

His reliability was part of the appeal for the Mets, who traded for an October arm who retired in October.

Maton entered a game in which the Mets led by one and trailed by two. Two home runs turned into three runs scored during a 5-3 Game 2 loss to the Brewers at American Family Field.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza chose Maton, a soft and usually effective option, for the fourth time in five days.

He could have tried Edwin Diaz or Ryne Stanek, who was effective in the seventh inning, against the top of the Brewers’ lineup, but he believed he could use Diaz – who threw a total of 66 pitches on Sunday and Monday – for just one inning could, and Stanek is a fireballer.

Mendoza said David Peterson, who pitched Sunday, was not in the game.

Against Brewers standout and leadoff star Jackson Chourio, Mendoza believed Maton was his best option.

“Chourio is a really good fastball hitter and Stanek, everything is tough,” Mendoza said. “As we were going through the situation, we wanted a Maton-Chourio matchup the whole time, but it just didn’t work out.”

That wasn’t the case. The third pitch Maton threw was a cutter over the plate that Chourio blasted to right for his second home run of the game, tying the game 3-1.

“Pretty happy with the pitch selection,” Maton said. “The execution was more within the framework than I would have liked. But just a talented hitter – take your hat off.”