Mitchell’s tiebreaking HR lifts Brewers by Mets in NL wild card

MILWAUKEE — Jackson Chourio tied the game in the eighth with his second homer of the night and pinch-hitter Garrett Mitchell delivered a two-run shot later in the inning to give the Milwaukee Brewers a 5-3 victory over the New York Mets on Wednesday night that evened their National League Wild Card Series.

The teams will play a decisive Game 3 on Thursday night. The Brewers will attempt to become the first team to rally to win a best-of-three wild-card series after losing the opener since MLB went to this expanded playoff format in 2022.

Milwaukee trailed 3-2 when Chourio led off the eighth by homering to right-center off losing pitcher Phil Maton, making his fourth appearance on the mound in five days. Chourio, a 20-year-old rookie, also opened the bottom of the first inning with a drive to right.

He became the youngest player to hit a leadoff homer in the postseason and the first player in postseason history with a leadoff homer and a game-tying homer in the eighth inning or later in the same game. He also is the second-youngest player to homer twice in a postseason game, behind 19-year-old Andruw Jones for Atlanta in the 1996 World Series opener at Yankee Stadium.

After Blake Perkins singled and William Contreras hit into a double play, Willy Adames kept the eighth inning alive with a single. Mitchell then sent a first-pitch curveball just over the wall in right-center, a 390-foot shot that sent the American Family Field crowd into a frenzy.

“I was just looking for something out over the plate and I recognized curveball early,” Mitchell told ESPN. 

“I’ve been getting ready [to hit] since about the fourth inning, so was just trying to stay active and ready to go.” 

Devin Williams retired the side in order in the ninth to earn the save, and  Joe Ross picked up the win after pitching 1⅓ innings of scoreless relief. It was the Brewers’ first playoff win when trailing entering the eight inning in franchise history. They were previously 0-26 in such scenarios.

The Mets had taken the lead in the second inning after a Brewers pitcher again made a critical mistake around first base.

With the score tied 1-1, the Mets had one out and nobody on in the second when Starling Marte hit a routine grounder to first baseman Rhys Hoskins, whose throw bounced off Frankie Montas’ glove as the right-hander went to cover the bag.

After Montas failed to catch Hoskins’ throw, he failed to get the next two Mets hitters out. Tyrone Taylor and Francisco Alvarez hit consecutive singles, with the latter hit bringing home Marte. Francisco Lindor followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Taylor.

It marked the second straight night the Mets rallied after a Brewers pitcher botched a play at first base. New York trailed 4-3 with two outs in the fifth inning of their 8-4 victory Tuesday when Joel Payamps was late getting to first base on a grounder to Hoskins, enabling Jose Iglesias to slide headfirst safely to spark a five-run outburst.

Milwaukee got one run back in the fifth when Brice Turang hit a leadoff double and scored on Perkins’ sacrifice fly.

Information from ESPN Research, ESPN’s Jesse Rogers and The Associated Press was used in this report.