MILWAUKEE (AP) — Mark Vientos hit a tiebreaking, two-run single during a five-run outburst in the fifth inning as the indefatigable New York Mets continued their thrilling week by beating the Milwaukee Brewers 8-4 in an NL Wild Card Series opener Tuesday.
The Mets didn’t earn a playoff berth until they rallied late from a three-run deficit to win the opening game of a makeup doubleheader in Atlanta on Monday, one day after the regular season was supposed to end.
Now they’re a win from heading to Philadelphia for an NL Division Series.
“I knew we were in a good spot when we boarded the plane,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “We celebrated. We got out of the clubhouse in Atlanta, and you could tell right away our mentality was next day, next game.”
Since Major League Baseball went to the current postseason format in 2022 that features four best-of-three Wild Card Series, the Game 1 winner has gone on to advance in each of the eight series. Only one of those eight series even made it to a winner-take-all third game.
Milwaukee has lost 10 of its last 11 playoff games, a stretch that began with its Game 7 home defeat against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2018 NL Championship Series.
Jesse Winker and pinch-hitter J.D. Martinez each drove in two runs for the Mets. Winker, who batted .199 with a .567 OPS for the Brewers last year before bouncing back this season, drew a chorus of boos each time he came to the plate. He also appeared to exchange words with Milwaukee shortstop Willy Adames after hitting a two-run triple in the second.
Brice Turang went 3 for 4, Jackson Chourio was 2 for 4 and William Contreras had two RBIs for the Brewers. According to MLB.com, the 20-year-old Chourio was the youngest player to get two hits in his playoff debut.
NL Central champion Milwaukee had been 5-0 against the Mets this season before losing 5-0 to them in its regular-season finale Sunday.
That sent the Mets to Atlanta needing one win in the doubleheader to reach the postseason, and they clinched a spot by scoring all their runs in the final two innings of an 8-7 victory over the rival Braves.
New York was back on the field in Milwaukee again just 22 hours after the twin bill — and the Mets showed a similar tenacity Tuesday.
“It’s hard to be tired when you’re playing playoff baseball,” Vientos said. “I had a bunch of energy. I know all of us did. We were all excited, and we got the job done.”
After the Brewers took an early lead with two runs in the first inning, the Mets answered by scoring three times in the second.
Once the Brewers pulled back ahead with two runs in the fourth, the Mets quickly responded again, this time with five runs in the fifth.
Milwaukee had just taken a 4-3 lead heading into the fifth when manager Pat Murphy removed Freddy Peralta, who had thrown 68 pitches and retired the last nine batters he faced, and turned to a relief corps that ranked second in the majors in bullpen ERA this season.
“It had been an emotional (68) pitches,” Murphy said. “What’s he got, 20 left? He’s usually between 83 and 90, is when he kind of loses a little bit on his fastball. I didn’t want (him) to face those guys three times around.”
The move backfired.
Starling Marte greeted Joel Payamps by hitting a drive that a leaping Chourio caught at the left-field wall. Tyrone Taylor then doubled to left on a flyball Chourio misjudged, allowing it to go off his glove.
With two on and two outs, Jose Iglesias hit a hard grounder that first baseman Rhys Hoskins snared. But Iglesias dove headfirst and beat Payamps to the bag for an infield single, with Taylor racing all the way home from second to tie the game.
Payamps blamed himself afterward for believing the ball was hit closer to first base than it actually was, and then reacting too late.
“That’s a routine play that I failed to execute,” Paympas said through a translator. “Things kind of spiraled from there.”
Aaron Ashby took over for Payamps, but didn’t retire any of the five batters he faced.
TIGERS 3, ASTROS 1
HOUSTON (AP) — Tarik Skubal kept up his stellar season with a sensational playoff debut and the Detroit Tigers got to Framber Valdez early in a 3-1 win over the Houston Astros in their AL Wild Card Series opener on Tuesday.
The Tigers, swept in the American League Division Series in their last trip to the playoffs in 2014, got their first postseason win since Game 4 the 2013 AL Championship Series against Boston.
Down 3-0 entering the ninth, Houston scored on Yanier Diaz’s RBI single and had the bases loaded when Jason Heyward hit a game-ending lineout against Beau Brieske.
Game 2 of the best-of-three series is Wednesday in Houston.
Skubal, the AL pitching Triple Crown winner, allowed just four singles and walked one in six innings. About the only hard hit by the Astros off him was one that hit him — the left was struck on his right wrist by Diaz’s second-inning comebacker.
“It was a good challenge,” Skubal said. “It was fun. It was a ton of fun. I enjoyed it. It’s probably the most nervous I’ve been since my debut. That was also fun to deal with. What a game. It was fun, glad to come out with a win.”
Yordan Alvarez, playing for the first time since spraining his right knee Sept. 22, doubled off Jason Foley starting the ninth inning. Pinch-runner Zach Dezenzo and moved to third on Alex Bregman’s infield single and Diaz singled on a grounder to right.
Jeremy Peña sacrificed, Brieske relieved and Victor Caratini flied out to short left. Chas McCormick and Brieske retired Heyward for the save.
“Skubal has been really good all year,” Espada said. “We had a few chances there in the middle of the game, and we couldn’t capitalize. But credit to him. He made pitches. And we battled until the end. We had a shot there in the ninth, and we just couldn’t get a big hit.”
The AL West champions were hurt by yet another playoff flop from Valdez, who went 0-3 in the postseason last year. Houston’s ace ranked third in the AL with a 2.91 ERA in the regular season but permitted three runs and seven hits in just 4 1/3 innings Tuesday.
Detroit pounced on him in the second. Wenceel Pérez singled with one out before, Spencer Torkelson walked and Parker Meadows grounded into a forceout that left runners at the corners.
Jake Rogers, Trey Sweeney and Matt Vierling hit consecutive RBI singles for a 3-0 lead.
The Tigers had a runner on third with two outs in the third when Peña made a diving catch at shortstop on Torkelson’s liner.
It was a return to Houston for Detroit manager A.J. Hinch, who led Houston to a championship in 2017, and the last managed a postseason game in the Astros’ loss in Game 7 of the 2019 World Series.
The following January he was suspended for a year by Major League Baseball and fired the same day for his role in Houston’s sign-stealing scandal.
He joined the Tigers after his suspension was up and guided the team back to the postseason with a 31-13 finish to the regular season.
ROYALS 1,
ORIOLES 0
BALTIMORE (AP) — As Bobby Witt Jr. prepared to make his much-anticipated playoff debut for the Kansas City Royals, he took a moment after the final notes of the national anthem rang out at Camden Yards on Tuesday to soak it all in.
The bright lights on a cloudy afternoon. The 41,506 roaring souls in the stands, most supporting the host Baltimore Orioles. The orange towels twirling in their hands.
“I’m like, ‘This is where you want to be,’” Witt said afterward. “This is the spot you want to be in. And this is what makes you a baseball player. This is what you dream of.”
Witt showed why he is one of the game’s biggest young stars, bringing home the only run with a single Tuesday to back six terrific innings from another playoff first-timer, Cole Ragans, and helping the Royals return from a nine-year postseason absence with a 1-0 victory over the Orioles in Game 1 of their AL Wild Card Series.
“It’s kind of fitting for him to drive in the run. He’s been the leader of the offense — him and (Salvador Perez) — all year,” KC’s Michael Massey said.
“Having him up in that situation is what we want as a team.”
Witt, the 24-year-old shortstop who led the majors with 211 hits and a .332 batting average this season, bounced the ball through the infield off a 95 mph, first-pitch cutter from 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes with two outs in the sixth.
Burnes used that cutter to get Witt out in his first two at-bats.
“He took some pretty bad swings on it, weak contact, so it was a pretty good pitch,” Burnes said. “He didn’t hit it very hard. It just found a hole, and that was the difference.”
Maikel Garcia came around to score after drawing a walk, stealing second — Burnes allowed runners to swipe a major league-high 41 bases this season — and moving to third on a groundout.
Garcia is another postseason rookie, as is Lucas Erceg, who earned a four-out save, emblematic of an up-and-coming Royals club that lost 106 games last season but used a 30-win improvement to get back to October for the first time since winning the 2015 World Series.
Witt copped to some butterflies in the ninth, and Erceg said he needed to slow himself down after realizing he wasn’t sticking to his normal routine on the mound. But otherwise, these KC Kids sure seemed to be right at ease in the glare when games matter the most.
“Pretty much just be yourself,” Witt said. “That’s what we do as a team.”
Now the Royals can end this best-of-three series and advance to an AL Division Series against the New York Yankees by winning Game 2 in Baltimore on Wednesday. Kansas City sends All-Star Seth Lugo to the mound to face Zach Eflin.
Baltimore has lost its last nine postseason games.
Ragans left after 80 pitches because of cramping in his left calf, and the bullpen handled things the rest of the way. The All-Star lefty was terrific, mixing a 98 mph fastball with a variety of off-speed offerings while allowing just four hits and striking out eight.
Burnes looked every bit the ace Baltimore hoped it was getting when it acquired him from Milwaukee in February.
“He did his part,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said.
The AL’s All-Star starter this season exited to a standing ovation after giving up a leadoff single in the ninth. He allowed one run, five hits and that one key free pass to Garcia.
“The walk hurt,” Burnes said. “The walk cost us the game.”
He became the first starter to throw a pitch in the ninth inning of a postseason game since Washington’s Stephen Strasburg in Game 6 of the 2019 World Series.
But Baltimore’s sluggers — the team’s 235 homers trailed only the Yankees — could not come through.
The Orioles got a runner to third in the third inning, but Jordan Westburg flied out to the warning track in left field. They put men at the corners in the fifth, but Ragans struck out James McCann and 2023 AL Rookie of the Year Gunnar Henderson.
“A big spot,” said Ragans.
Hyde’s take? “That hurt.”
And in the eighth, with a pair on and two out, Erceg replaced Kris Bubic and got Anthony Santander to ground into a fielder’s choice with thousands of spectators on their feet.
“It’s going to be louder. It’s going to be bigger, whatever,” said Witt, whose father was a pitcher in the majors. “But you just have to know this is the game I grew up playing, loving.”
