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Fifth-inning scoring outburst lifts Mets in Game 1
New York Mets second base Jose Iglesias (11) and shortstop Luisangel Acuna (2) react after the ninth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers in game one of the wild-card round for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at American Family Field. Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

Takeaways from Brewers-Mets Game 1: Scoring outburst lifts New York

The New York Mets have been running on fumes over the last week, but their offense still managed to stay hot on Tuesday.

New York secured an 8-4 victory to take a 1-0 lead in their wild-card Series matchup against the Milwaukee Brewers and are now one win away from meeting its National League East rival, the Philadelphia Phillies, in the NLDS. Here are three takeaways from the Mets' win:

Mets continue to show their resilience 

Despite playing in their sixth game in five days (and third game in two days), the Mets lineup showed no signs of fatigue during Tuesday's win over Milwaukee. Just like in the team's thrilling win in the opening game of Monday's doubleheader against the Atlanta Braves, New York showed resiliency by trading blows with the opposition and scoring in bunches.

After right-hander Luis Severino allowed two first-inning runs, the Mets strung together four quality at-bats, including a two-run triple by DH Jesse Winker and a sacrifice fly from outfielder Starling Marte, to take a 3-2 lead.

The Brewers reclaimed the lead — and momentum — in the fourth inning, thanks to a Jackson Chourio RBI double and a William Contreras RBI groundout. However, after Brewers manager Pat Murphy turned to his bullpen in the top of the fifth inning, the Mets quickly pounced. 

New York scored five runs on five hits, sending 11 batters to the plate, its most productive playoff inning since Game 4 of the 2006 NLCS, as pointed out by MLB.com's Anthony DiComo.

Ultimately, the Mets' fifth-inning scoring outburst proved to be the deciding factor in this matchup, as neither New York nor Milwaukee scored a run for the remainder of the game.

Although pitching is undoubtedly crucial in the postseason, having a deep lineup with the confidence to battle back from any deficit like New York's can also swing the outcome of a series, especially in a three-game set. 

Brewers’ Pat Murphy loses chess match between first-year managers 

It was a rough postseason debut for Murphy, who did the Mets plenty of favors on Tuesday. 

As mentioned, the 65-year-old turned to his bullpen early, pulling starter Freddy Peralta after four innings. While Peralta allowed three runs, the Brewers ace only threw 68 pitches before being removed and responded to his second-inning flare-up by retiring the last nine batters he faced.

Murphy made another costly mistake during the Mets' fifth-inning explosion. After New York took a 6-4 lead, Murphy opted to intentionally walk first baseman Pete Alonso, even though two men were already on base and there were two outs in the inning.

Alonso may be one of the more dangerous power hitters in baseball, but he's amidst the worst offensive year of his career and only hit .232 with runners in scoring position during the regular season. The Brewers should’ve pitched to him. 

Meanwhile, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza continued to press all the right buttons for his team, sending a struggling J.D. Martinez to the plate to pinch-hit for Winker. The veteran slugger Martinez promptly hit a two-run single to extend New York's lead to 8-4. 

It's true that a large part of having success in the postseason relies on playing the matchups, but Murphy's questionable decisions seemed more like a case of overmanaging.  

Mets right-hander Luis Severino comes up big late 

Severino, who entered Tuesday's game boasting a 5.15 postseason ERA for his career, saw his playoff struggles continue against Milwaukee, though he was able to bounce back and put together a gutsy performance.

It was apparent in the bottom of the first inning that Severino didn't have anything close to his best stuff on the mound. The two-time All-Star allowed three consecutive hits, walked two batters and hit another to force in a run to begin his outing. 

After settling in during the second and third innings, Severino ran into trouble again in the fourth, allowing two more runs on three hits.

Nonetheless, with the Mets recapturing the lead in the fifth, Mendoza boldly decided to stick with Severino, a decision that could pay massive dividends later in this series. 

Severino went on to retire all six batters he faced over his final two innings pitched, giving the top options in a taxed Mets bullpen some much-needed rest ahead of Wednesday’s pivotal Game 2.

Colum Dell

Colum is a Texas transplant, born and raised in New Jersey. In addition to being a West Virginia University alumnus, he is a long-suffering New York Giants, Knicks and Mets fan. He joined Yardbarker in November 2022 and has primarily covered the NFL since

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