Christian Scott was one strike away from working his way out of a first-and-third, nobody-out jam in the second inning.
He had Joey Ortiz in an 0-2 hole and fired a 97 mph fastball up in the zone. Ortiz lofted a fly ball to the right field warning track, where Brett Baty had a chance to make the play. He didn’t, two runs scored, and Ortiz cruised into third with a triple. Christian Yelich followed with an RBI single to give Milwaukee a 3-1 lead.
The Mets (43-60) dropped the rubber game at Milwaukee 4-3 on Wednesday to finish a 3-3 road trip.
New York made a comeback bid in the eighth with singles by Francisco Lindor and Carson Benge, but with two outs and two on, unlike the Mets, the Brewers defense came through. Second baseman Brice Turang robbed Jorge Polanco of a hit with a great backhanded stop, and Jake Bauers made a nice pick of the one-hop throw to first.
Francisco Alvarez singled home a run with two outs in the ninth, and then the Milwaukee defense struck again. A.J. Ewing was denied when Ortiz made a diving play to his left at third and threw him out to end the game.
While the Ortiz triple should have been caught, Scott (3-2) wasn’t at his best. He needed 89 pitches to get 11 outs and was pulled with two outs and two on in the fourth. It was his shortest outing since his first start of the season. He walked three. In 14 starts, he’s walked three or more four times.
Marcus Semien hit a solo homer (10) in the second, and Baty earned a measure of redemption with his sixth homer in the fifth.
A.J. Minter, summoned to face Yelich with a runner on second and two outs in the sixth, gave up an RBI triple off the center-field wall. Minter, reportedly on the trading block, gave up a homer to Alec Bohm in his last appearance on Sunday.
Another play the Met defense should have made came in the fifth. With runners at first and second and nobody out, William Contreras grounded to third. Bo Bichette stayed back when he should have charged, and his throw to second to try to force the speedy Turang was not in time.
But that mistake didn’t lead to any damage because Cionel Pérez struck out Garrett Mitchell and Huascar Brazobángot Andrew Vaughn to bounce into a 6-4-3 double play.
Stats of the Game
In 14 starts this year, Scott has yet to go six innings. He struck out six, bringing his season total to 78 in 63 1/3 innings. His ERA is 3.13.
Player of the Game
He was robbed to end the game, but Ewing went 2-for-5 with his 11th double to raise his slash line to .274/.345/.426. He’s hit safely in six of his last seven games.
On Deck
The Mets are off Thursday. They start a 10-game homestand on Friday against the Dodgers with Sean Manaea (2-5, 4.74 ERA) going against Roki Sasaki (3-5, 4.98 ERA). Manaea is 1-5 with a 7.09 ERA in 11 career appearances (eight starts) vs. Los Angeles. Game time is 7:10 p.m. ET on WPIX.
