The Mets advance to the playoffs with a 4-2 win over the Brewers as Alonso hits a home run to lead off the ninth inning

MILWAUKEE (AP) – Pete Alonso hit the go-ahead three-run home run from All-Star closer Devin Williams in the ninth inning and the New York Mets defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 4-2 on Thursday night to win their NL Wild Card Series.

With their recent thrilling comeback in the decisive Game 3 against Milwaukee, the Mets advanced to the playoffs for the first time since winning the National League pennant in 2015. They opened Saturday in Philadelphia in a best-of-five division series against the NL East champion Phillies.

It will be the heated rivals’ first postseason meeting.

“That was unreal. What a ride,” said Alonso. “I’m just excited to help keep this team alive.”

The slugger became the first major league player to hit a go-ahead home run when his team was trailing in the ninth inning or later of a winner-take-all postseason game. according to OptaSTATS.

“It’s something you practice in the backyard as a kid,” Alonso said.

The NL Central champion Brewers, making their sixth playoff appearance in seven years, have yet to win a postseason series since reaching the playoffs Game 7 of the 2018 National League Championship Series.

This loss will be particularly painful.

“I love this team,” manager Pat Murphy said. “I love her. I will never be able to repeat 2024. It didn’t end the way we wanted. Actually, it ended tragically.”

Milwaukee appeared to have victory in hand after pinch hitters Jake Bauers and Sal Frelick broke a scoreless tie by opening the seventh inning with consecutive home runs on consecutive pitches from Jose Buttó. Rookie right-hander Tobias Myers and three Brewers relievers combined for a two-hit shutout in the first eight innings.

In fact, 12 Mets had been eliminated in a row when they drafted into the ninth round with Williams, a two-time NL reliever of the year who earned the save in Milwaukee’s Game 2 victory on Wednesday.

But he wasn’t himself that night.

“I’m not going to apologize,” Williams said. “I didn’t implement it the way I should have. You did the job, I didn’t.”

Francisco Lindor opened the inning with an eight-pitch walk. Mark Vientos struck out, then Brandon Nimmo hit a sharp single on the 0-2 pitch to put runners on the corners.

That brought up Alonso, who had 226 career home runs in six seasons but hadn’t delivered an extra-base hit since his Sept. 19 home run.

“I know Devin has great stuff,” Alonso said. “I saw him pitch a lot. We were teammates in the WBC (World Baseball Classic). He’s a tough AB.”

After taking a 3-1 lead, Alonso moved onto the opposing field at 86 miles per hour over the wall in the right. As he rounded first base and gave New York the lead, he put his fingers to his mouth in a “chef’s kiss” gesture.

Alonso can become a coveted free agent after the World Series, so if the Mets had come up short, it could have been his last plate appearance with the only professional franchise he played for.

Instead, he sent them into the next round with the biggest home run of his career.

“Pete Alonso was one shot away from people going crazy for him. And that’s exactly what happened,” Lindor said.

Williams stayed in the game but never got back to his feet. Jesse Winker was hit by a pitch with two outs, stole second and scored an insurance run on Starling Marte’s single to right.

Winker, a former Brewer who was met with boos throughout the series, screamed and slammed his helmet to the ground after sliding across the plate.

The ninth-inning rally continued New York’s picture-perfect season. The Mets were 22-33 at the end of May but had the best record in baseball for the remainder of the regular season. They only secured a spot in the playoffs when they scored all of their runs in the final two innings of a game 8-7 comeback win at rival Atlanta in the opening game of a makeup doubleheader on Monday, the day after the regular season actually ended.

New York becomes the first team to clinch a postseason berth and a playoff series by winning both games after trailing in the ninth inning or later.

“Given everything that’s happened this season, it seems only fitting,” Nimmo said. “We seemed dejected and drained. We were written off at the start of the season. Apparently things got worse in April and May. Then we went on this just incredible run of being the best (team) in baseball for the next four months, had the team meeting and pulled ourselves up.

“And that’s what this game was like. In that game, we were down for eight innings and we just said, ‘You know what?’ We’re just going to keep shooting until the end and see what happens.'”

Frelick led off the bottom of the ninth with a single, but Joey Ortiz struck out and Brice Turang hit a double play to end the series.

“It just plain sucks,” said Frelick, whose home run was his first since mid-May. “We beat ourselves and I think we will all remember that as a group until next year.”

Edwin Díaz pitched 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief and earned the win. David Peterson, making his first relief appearance this season, earned his first major league save in the ninth.

The game began as a pitchers’ duel between Myers and New York left-hander Jose Quintana. Myers pitched five shutout innings while Quintana held the Brewers scoreless for six innings.

NEXT

New York went 6-7 against the Phillies in the regular season and finished six games behind them in the division standings.

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