The New York Mets are in their final 10 games of the 2021 regular season schedule. As of Friday, with the St. Louis Cardinals winning their 14th game in a row, the Mets were officially eliminated from wild-card contention. The Amazins’ can be totally eliminated by the weekend. But there is still baseball to be played as players look to try to end the 2021 season on a high note.

The Mets and Brewers opened a three-game series on Friday night in Milwaukee. Tylor Megill was looking to rebound from a rough last outing. He was opposed by left-handed pitcher Eric Lauer.

The Mets struggled to find life as their only run came in the first inning. The Brewers, very much in playoff contention, came to play as their offense teed off against Megill as they claimed a 5-1 win over the Mets to open the series.

The Mets got right to work offensively on Friday night. On a 2-1 count, Brandon Nimmo hit a leadoff triple to center field to immediately put a runner in scoring position. Francisco Lindor followed Nimmo with a ground out to first that scored Nimmo as Lindor picked up the RBI on the sacrifice and put the Mets on top 1-0 in the top of the first.

Four batters later with runners on first and second, Jonathan Villar singled to right field to load the bases for the Mets, but James McCann struck out to end the inning as the Mets left the bases loaded.

Megill got off to a rough start as the Brewers immediately answered with Kolten Wong hitting a leadoff home run to center to tie the game 1-1. Except for a one-out walk to Christian Yelich, Megill settled down in the first, retiring Avisail Garcia and Omar Narvaez to get out of the inning..

Megill continued to struggle in the second. He gave up back-to-back singles to Eduardo Escobar and Daniel Vogelbach before forcing Lorenzo Cain into a double play and retiring Lauer to get out of the inning as the Brewers left two runners stranded.

Things unraveled in the third for Megill. He gave up a leadoff walk to Wong, followed by a two-run home run to Willy Adames and a solo home run to Yelich that gave the Brewers a 4-1 lead over the Mets in the third inning.

Megill’s outing was complete after just four innings of work. Brad Hand came on to replace Megill on the mound for the Mets in the fifth.

Megill’s Final Line:

4.0 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 2 SO,  3 HR, 4.78 ERA

Immediately, Yelich hit a leadoff triple off of Hand. Garcia followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Yelich to extend the Brewers’ lead over the Mets to 5-1. Hand retired the next two batters he faced to get out of the inning.

Lauer continued to roll through the Mets’ lineup, striking out seven Mets in six innings.

After allowing a run in the fifth, Luis Rojas went to the Mets’ bullpen in the sixth. Heath Hembree came in to replace Hand on the mound for the Mets in the sixth.

Hembree retired the Brewers in order in a quick sixth inning of work.

Lauer came back out to pitch the seventh for the Brewers. He retired the first two batters he faced before giving up a two-out single to Jeff McNeil. That was all for Lauer as Brent Suter came in to replace him on the mound in the seventh with two outs for the Brewers. Suter forced a one-out flyout of Peraza to end the inning as the Mets stranded their fifth runner of the game.

Miguel Castro came on to pitch the seventh for the Mets. He gave up a leadoff walk to Wong, but retired the next three he faced to avoid letting any runs across in the seventh.

Edwin Diaz replaced Miguel Castro on the mound for the Mets in the eighth. He retired the Brewers in order to take the game to the ninth inning.

Josh Hader came in to try to close out the game for the Brewers in the ninth. He retired the Mets in order to claim the 5-1 win for the Brewers as the Mets continued to struggle to show signs of life as their playoff hopes have all but been eliminated.

Lauer (7-5) got the win for the Brewers. Megill (3-6) took the loss for the Mets.

The Mets and Brewers will continue their series on Saturday at 6:30PM. It will be Rich Hill against Corbin Burnes in game two of the series.

Player of the Game

Friday night’s player of the game, as deserved is Nimmo, who led off the game with a triple and collected the Mets’ only run scored on Friday night.