Two games into his tenure with the Milwaukee Brewers, Rhys Hoskins is frustrating the New York Mets, similar to various points of his time with the Philadelphia Phillies.
After his first big day at the plate with his new team, Hoskins has the Brewers in position to complete a three-game sweep Sunday afternoon when they visit the Mets.
Hoskins, who signed a two-year deal with the Brewers in January, annoyed New York's Jeff McNeil with a hard slide at second base on a potential double-play grounder in the eighth inning of a 3-1 Milwaukee win on Friday. A day later, the Mets did not retaliate until reliever Yohan Ramirez threw over his head in the seventh inning and was ejected for the pitch.
"There's a history there, and we had an altercation the day before. One goes over his head, albeit I bet it wasn't on purpose," Milwaukee first-year manager Pat Murphy said.
By the seventh, Hoskins already had helped the Brewers on their way to a 7-6 victory that gave them a 2-0 start for the first time since beginning 2018 with three straight wins. Milwaukee pounded out 16 hits, including 14 singles. Hoskins hit a two-run single and a two-run homer among three hits and four RBIs.
"I'm a competitor," Hoskins said. "People boo you, people doubt you, people do whatever they do. It's always nice to prove people wrong. So yeah, I'm ecstatic about what I was able to do to help us win a game today."
Hoskins, who initially angered the Mets on April 24, 2019, with a long home run trot, produced his 14th career game with at least four RBIs. Until Saturday, none of those games had been against the Mets, against whom he is a career .220 hitter (70-for-318) in 87 games.
"This is a guy who's been a really good player in this league, and he's had some success against this team and definitely we saw it," New York manager Carlos Mendoza said. "Our job is to get him out, and we didn't do a good job of that today."
The Mets, who are attempting to avoid their first 0-3 start since 2014, produced 12 hits Saturday after Starling Marte's homer was their only hit in the series opener. Brett Baty hit a three-run homer while Pete Alonso and Francisco Alvarez went deep on Saturday.
After Hoskins homered off Luis Severino, he will face Tylor Megill, who was 9-8 with a 4.70 ERA in 25 starts for the Mets last season. Megill earned a spot in the rotation by producing a 3.92 ERA in six spring training appearances spanning 20 2/3 innings.
Megill went 2-1 with a 2.76 ERA in his final five starts last season and is 0-1 with a 6.91 ERA in five career appearances (three starts) against the Brewers. The right-hander last started against Milwaukee on June 16, 2022, when he allowed four runs on four hits in 3 1/3 innings of a no-decision.
After getting four innings from DL Hall on Saturday and six from Freddy Peralta on Friday, Colin Rea will start for the Brewers on Sunday.
Rea was 6-6 with a 4.55 ERA in a career-high 26 games and 22 starts with the Brewers last season. He is 2-0 with a 1.26 ERA in two career starts against the Mets, including a gem on June 26 when he allowed one run on three hits in 6 1/3 innings in Milwaukee's 2-1 win.
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