The Mets have momentum and are top Brewers in Game 1 of the NL Wild Card

MILWAUKEE — After three games in two cities in two days and almost too many comebacks to count, the New York Mets are suddenly just one game away from the National League Division Series.

The Mets overcame two early deficits in the first game of their wild-card series against the Brewers on Tuesday, stringing together hits, walks and hit batters in a three-run second inning and a five-run fifth inning, and are now NL Central champions Milwaukee on the ropes after an 8-4 win.

“It's hard to be tired when you're playing playoff baseball,” third baseman Mark Vientos said. “I had a lot of energy. I know we all have done that. We were all excited and got the job done.”

All of this came about 24 hours after New York concluded its regular season with a doubleheader in Atlanta, where the Mets were coming off a thrilling 8-7 win in Game 1 thanks to Francisco Lindor's dramatic two-run homer in the ninth .

After losing Game 2 in Atlanta, the Mets celebrated after the game in the host clubhouse at SunTrust Park, flew to Milwaukee and streamed into American Family Field at noon Tuesday. It just sounds exhausting, and when the Brewers jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first inning, few would have been surprised if the contest turned into a runout.

Well, few outside the Mets dugout would, as resilience has perhaps become the defining characteristic of the 2024 Mets.

“It’s a playoff game,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Everyone is tired. But once you play ball, you have to go.”

The decisive hit during New York's three-run second was Jesse Winker's two-run triple into the right field corner, hit after the Milwaukee crowd booed Winker loudly as he approached the plate.

In video from the broadcast, Winker was seen exchanging not-so-kind conversations with Brewers shortstop Willy Adames, his teammate in Milwaukee last season, after Winker slid to third base. What was that about? Winker didn't say it.

“I don’t really want to talk about it,” Winker said after pausing to consider the question. “I just want to concentrate on the game tomorrow.”

Maybe Winker was just tired. You can't blame him, but the veteran, acquired from the Mets midseason, has seen his team respond to adversity too often to not step in.

“I just feel like it’s the story of this team,” Winker said. “This team has had a lot of things thrown at them and (we) are just reacting. It's time. They’re in the playoffs.”

After the long day in Atlanta a day earlier, the Mets' bullpen schedule was tricky, and that might have worked to New York's advantage in the end. Because while Luis Severino struggled in the first innings, Mendoza stuck with him because he didn't want to rely on his relief corps too early. Severino found his footing and eventually gave the Mets six innings, giving up four runs and securing the win.

“The bullpen appreciated it,” Severino said. “When they came back to the dugout, they were really happy for me to get those six innings and come back there and try to get through that outing.”

On the other hand, the rested Brewers pulled their top starter, Freddy Peralta, after just four innings and 68 pitches. Peralta gave up three runs, so the Brewers decided to start their parade of relievers early, as was the case in so many postseason games of this era.

Unfortunately, the relievers who replaced Peralta – Joel Payamps and Aaron Ashby – gave up five runs during a two-out New York rally in the fifth, tying the score. Ashby failed to strike out any of the five batters he faced.

“(Peralta) is probably 18 pitches away from his limit,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “We take the lead in the game. We have a full bullpen. It's a playoff game. We'd like to get it to five because we're using bullpen throughout the week, (but) you don't do that. “You're playing to win tonight.

Maybe Peralta wouldn't have hit his stride as quickly as Severino, and maybe it wouldn't have mattered because these Mets, who were 11 games under .500 in early June, are riding a wave that shows no signs of peaking.

“Yeah, we went back to Atlanta, played a doubleheader and came back here,” Mendoza said. “But nobody cares. We were ready to go. You saw that. We have to be ready to do it again tomorrow.”