Mets drop first game of important Brewers series

MILWAUKEE – There's still everything on the line for the Mets and nothing for the Brewers in the regular season, but you wouldn't have known that until Friday's game.

Perhaps the Mets' biggest upset was an angry Carlos Mendoza barking at plate umpire Ramon De Jesus before and after the manager was ejected for protesting a so-called third strike on Francisco Alvarez in the fourth inning.

The Mets were flat-footed in every way for the second straight game, and that was even before Alvarez grabbed his lower back after sliding into third base in the seventh inning and had to leave.

The catcher, who was diagnosed with back spasms, needed help from his teammates to walk from the dugout to the clubhouse.

The Mets' total disaster night ended with an 8-4 loss at American Family Field, leaving them tied with Atlanta and Arizona for the second NL wild card.

Two of the three teams receive wildcard spots.

The Padres secured the top wild card spot on Friday.

Francisco Lindor returned to the lineup after missing the last eight games with lower back tightness and reached base three times – he was 2-for-4 with a walk – but the shortstop appeared unsteady at times and committed a throwing error, which resulted in an unearned throw run.

The Brewers, seeded No. 3 for the postseason, didn't settle for a passive approach and went 6-for-6 on stolen base attempts.

Five of those came with Alvarez behind the plate and another with Luis Torrens at catcher.

“They outdid us today,” Lindor said. “They scored, ran the bases better than us and hit with runners in scoring position.”

In his worst second-half start, Sean Manaea lasted just 3²/₃ innings, giving up six runs, one unearned, on seven hits and two walks with one strikeout.

The start was his shortest since August 10 in Seattle and the five earned runs allowed were his most since July 19 in Miami.

“It sucks,” Manaea said. “We’re here fighting for our lives and doing that doesn’t feel good, but we’re resilient.”

Mets nemesis Rhys Hoskins hit a grand slam in the first inning to give the Brewers a 4-0 lead. Manaea dug his own hole, striking out William Contreras and Willy Adames with two outs to load the bases before Hoskins hit his fifth career grand slam and third of the season.

The inning began with Brice Turang's line drive off a jumping Lindor glove for a single.

Turang took second place and reached third place with a wild throw.

Lindor's throwing error on Blake Perkins' grounder in the second led to the Brewers scoring an unearned run after Turang's double.

The Mets cut their deficit to 5-2 on Mark Vientos' two-run home run in the third off Frankie Montas.

Alvarez led off the inning before Vientos hit a towering drive with one out that cleared the centerfield fence for his 27th home run of the season and his second in as many games.

In the fourth, Jesse Winker was plunked with two outs and JD Martinez walked before Alvarez threw a called third strike on a full-count pitch that appeared to be below the strike zone.

Alvarez yelled at plate umpire De Jesus before Mendoza entered the scene to protect his player and was ejected.

Manaea's night ended after he allowed three straight goals in the fourth period.

Turang hit a single and Garrett Mitchell's double put runners on second and third before Jackson Chourio hit an infield grounder for an RBI single that sank the Mets in a 6-2 hole.

“While the game went on, life went on [Manaea’s] Fastball at the top wasn’t there today,” Mendoza said.

Turang drew a two-out walk against Danny Young in the sixth and stole second for his 50th stolen base of the season.

Turang reached third on a pass and scored on a wild pitch.

After the Mets scored twice in the eighth, Gary Sanchez hit a solo home run off Alex Young in the bottom of the inning to give the Brewers an 8-4 lead.

“I was very happy with it [our] They fought with bats and kept fighting,” Mendoza said. “We didn’t give up.”