The New York Mets (16-18) were defeated by the Milwaukee Brewers (20-16) by a score of 3-2 Sunday afternoon at Miller Park.

Hitting

The Mets’ bats couldn’t get going until the fourth when Keon Broxton hit a one-out ground rule double to center field. After a popped-up bunt attempt by Juan Lagares, Tomas Nido socked a two-out single to left field, scoring the speedy Broxton easily. Michael Conforto then came up to pinch-hit for Jason Vargas and walked before Adeiny Hechavarria grounded out to end the inning.

Amed Rosario led off the sixth inning with his third hit of the day but after a Brandon Nimmo fly out, Pete Alonso was robbed of an extra-base hit by a phenomenal play by Lorenzo Cain in right-center field. With Todd Frazier at the plate, Amed Rosario was caught trying to steal second for the third out of the inning.

With Zach Davies cruising, the Mets were running out of chances going into the top of the seventh inning. Todd Frazier lined out to second base and Keon Broxton struck out before Juan Lagares lined an opposite-field home run over the right field fence, bringing the score to 3-2.

At 108 pitches, Davies stayed in to face the newly entered Jeff McNeil who grounded out into the shift. Robinson Cano, still looking for #2500, struck out on the changeup for the second out. That would be it for Davies as after throwing 118 pitches and saving his bullpen, Matt Albers came in to finish out the 8th inning. Davies’ final line: 7.2 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 5 K. Of his 118 pitches, 76 were strikes. Albers struck out Rosario to end the inning, preserving the Brewers’ 3-2 lead.

Down to their last chance, the Mets were hoping for at least one run from J.D. Davis (pinch-hitting for Brandon Nimmo), Pete Alonso, and Todd Frazier. Davis started the frame by striking out looking at five Josh Hader fastballs, the last of which 97 mph on the outside corner. Alonso, who tied the game in the ninth inning Saturday night, was started off with a rare slider from Hader.

A couple fastballs later, though, and Alonso was walking back to the bench after striking out. Down to their final out, Frazier was the Mets’ last hope, but you could guess what happened next. Having struck out the side, Josh Hader has pitched 9.0 career innings against the Mets with an incredible 22 strikeouts, one hit, and two walks.

Pitching

Jason Vargas started for the Mets and looked very sharp through the first two innings, striking out three and allowing no hits. The Brewers caught on pretty quickly, though, as they struck in the third when Manny Pina led off with a double to the left-center field gap. Orlando Arcia then lined one to right field that got by Keon Broxton, a ball he absolutely should have caught. As Pina was tagging up, the back-to-back doubles put runners on second and third with nobody out.

Brewers pitcher Zach Davies struck out before Lorenzo Cain hit a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring the first run of the game. Christain Yelich, starting his first game in a week, then launched a two-run home run into the third deck down the right field line. That home run was his 15th of the season which leads the Major Leagues (Cody Bellinger has 14).

Despite saying he wanted to stretch Jason Vargas to 100 pitches today, and despite the bullpen being taxed after playing 18 innings the night before, Mickey Callaway opted to pinch hit for Vargas in the fifth inning after he had thrown 50 pitches. Apart from just a few mistakes, Vargas had been pitching relatively well. This move did not make much sense at the time, but it was later revealed that he was lifted due to hamstring tightness. His final line: 4.0 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 5 K.

Tim Peterson, recalled from Triple-A today to help a tired bullpen, came in to pitch the fifth and tossed a perfect inning. He started the sixth inning by hitting Lorenzo Cain in the hand, prompting Ben Gamel to come in and pinch run for him. He was immediately erased when Peterson got Yelich to ground into a double play before Ryan Braun grounded out to end the inning.

Peterson stayed in for the bottom of the seventh and was greeted rudely by Jesus Aguilar who tucked a double just inside the left field line. He struck out Hernan Perez before being lifted in lieu of a lefty-lefty matchup. He ended up going 2.1 innings allowing one hit, one hit-by-pitch, and one strikeout.

Daniel Zamora was brought in to face struggling lefty Travis Shaw with a runner on second base and one out. He retired him via a fly out with three straight sliders but that would be it for him, as Mickey Callaway came out of the dugout to take the ball. He double-switched Jeff McNeil into the game and brought Tyler Bashlor in to make his season debut on the hill. Manny Pina did his best to stretch the Brewers’ lead to 5-2, but his long fly ball fell just short of the wall and was caught by Brandon Nimmo, now in right field.

Bashlor, staying in for the bottom of the eighth, induced a fly out off the bat of Orlando Arcia to start the inning. He then walked Eric Thames and allowed a single to Ben Gamel who stayed in for the injured Cain (X-rays on his hand came back negative). With runners on first and second and one out, the table was set for 2018 NL MVP Christain Yelich who already had a home run in the game. After falling behind 1-2, he worked the count full before striking out on a 96 mph fastball up in the zone. He then struck out the 2011 NL MVP as well to end the inning.

On Deck

The Mets will enjoy a change of climate as they leave Milwaukee and fly to San Diego as Jacob deGrom (2-3, 3.82 ERA) faces off against Chris Paddack (2-1, 1.91 ERA) at 10:10 PM ET at Petco Park.