Benny Sieu-Imagn Images
For eight innings on Thursday night, the New York Mets’ bats barely spoke above a whisper. Unfortunately for the Milwaukee Brewers, the ninth inning was the charm in Game 3, as the Mets loudly ended the Brew Crew’s 2024 season with a 4-2 win, largely thanks to a dramatic opposite-field homer from Pete Alonso.
The climactic action may have involved a trio of round-trippers, but for six innings, we got a classic pitchers’ duel between two starters with very different styles. Starring for the Mets was Jose Quintana, who played the crafty veteran lefty trope to perfection here, throwing leisurely fastballs and sinkers where hitters could neither drive them or ignore them, while mixing in a healthy dose of changeups and curves that threatened the dirt.
ZiPS was a bit worried about how Quintana matched up against the Brewers coming into the game; while he’s maintained enough of a reverse platoon split over a long career to be confident in it, Milwaukee has a lot of right-handed hitters who can make a southpaw’s evening unpleasant in a hurry. But William Contreras and Rhys Hoskins went hitless, and ultimately it was the lefties who provided most of the team’s offense.
Myers was pulled after 66 pitches, a decision largely in keeping with manager Pat Murphy’s M.O.; he has frequently had a quick hook with Myers, though the young hurler was allowed to face the order a third time through (or at least begin to) several times in September.
The Brewers got three more shutout innings from three relievers. First up was Trevor Megill, who did his usual shtick: throw some 99 mph fastballs, then cause batters to flail on a couple of knuckle-curves. Nick Mears, who was quietly picked up in July from the Rockies, continued to show why you shouldn’t dismiss a player whose peripherals suddenly improve; he dispatched his assigned Mets in the seventh almost as easily as Megill had an inning earlier. And since random bullpen cameos are a thing in the MLB Postseason Cinematic Universe, the Brewers’ Game 1 starter, Freddy Peralta, came in to throw a hitless inning in the eighth.
Meanwhile, after six innings of Quintana, the Brewers fared better against José Buttó in the seventh. While ZiPS isn’t really a fan of Jake Bauers, it fully endorsed him pinch-hitting against Buttó; the computer had him with a projected OPS (.864) nearly 70 points better than Hoskins in the same situation (.796). A Buttó changeup tarried too long in the strike zone, and Bauers put Milwaukee on the scoreboard in loud fashion.
One pitch later, Sal Frelick committed offensive plagiarism, hitting his own home run to right field to put the Brewers up 2-0.
In a move I had mixed feelings about at the time — and still do — the Mets brought in closer Edwin Díaz to shut things down. On an emotional level, I totally get it; things suddenly looked liked they were getting out of control, and Díaz is the best reliever the Mets have to play the disciplinarian teacher who has to intervene when the substitute teacher is overwhelmed.
And the pain wasn’t quite over for Brewers fans. After a Jose Iglesias groundout, Jesse Winker got hit by his second pitch of the night. He sought revenge by stealing second and after a Starling Marte single that drove him home as an insurance run, he spiked his helmet in what might have been the hardest thrown pitch of the evening.
Milwaukee’s last chance was anti-climactic. Frelick led off the inning with a single, but after David Peterson struck out Joey Ortiz, Turang grounded into a season-ending double play. And with that, the last of the four divisional series matchups is set. The Mets now head to Philadelphia to face off with the well-rested NL East champions.
