MILWAUKEE — Step one, as they collectively called it, is done. The Mets are going to the playoffs. They guaranteed as much with more than two weeks remaining in the regular season by virtue of blowing away the clubs in the wild-card picture, earning that bit of uncertainty heading into a particularly stressful stretch.
But step two is going to be much more difficult. The Mets got another day closer to winning the NL East by beating the Brewers again Tuesday, 7-5, scoring all of their runs on two swings — Pete Alonso’s three-run homer and Francisco Lindor’s grand slam.
Their lead over second-place Atlanta, which survived to nab a close win over Washington, remained at one game with a dozen to play. The Mets topping Milwaukee actually clinched a playoff spot for Atlanta, too.
Edwin Diaz recorded the final four outs to pick up just his second save of the month.
Facing a parade of relievers in the Brewers’ bullpen game, the Mets (95-55) sleepwalked through the first half. But when Milwaukee started to go to its late-and-close arms, the Mets woke up.
It began in the top of the sixth, when Brad Boxberger started the Mets’ rally by hitting Mark Canha with a pitch. Lindor snuck a single through the right side of the infield. That brought up Alonso, who crushed a no-doubter to centerfield.
Alonso’s season totals: 37 homers and a career-high 121 RBIs. He is approaching the Mets single-season RBI record of 124, held by Mike Piazza (1999) and David Wright (2008).
Taylor Rogers similarly assisted the Mets in the top of the seventh by walking his first three batters, including the light-hitting Darin Ruf and James McCann. Lindor walloped a two-out grand slam to left-centerfield to give the Mets a sudden lead.
Since coming to the Brewers in the trade deadline deal that sent Josh Hader to the Padres, Rogers has a 6.52 ERA.
Milwaukee nearly knocked out Carlos Carrasco in the second inning, but he settled in to last two more. He wound up allowing three earned runs in four frames, striking out four and walking two.
That marked the continuation of a perhaps unsurprising season-long trend in which he has struggled against good teams but excelled against lesser ones.
In 11 starts against clubs that now can be identified as playoff contenders, Carrasco has a 6.71 ERA.
In 16 starts against everyone else, Carrasco has a 2.14 ERA.
The warning signs began early for Carrasco on Tuesday. He grinded through a 25-pitch first inning, escaping only when Luis Urias swung at a full-count pitch well outside the strike zone for a groundout. He wasn’t as fortunate in the second, when Kolten Wong and Andrew McCutchen opened the inning with consecutive hard-hit doubles. Omar Narvaez and Willy Adames added run-scoring singles as Trevor Williams warmed up in the bullpen.
The Brewers brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the eighth after scoring a run against Adam Ottavino. But Diaz entered and struck out Rowdy Tellez on a 100-mph fastball a tick above the zone. Tellez, who went 0-for-5 with two strikeouts and five runners left on base, slammed his helmet in frustration.
Manager Buck Showalter lamented before the game that the Brewers’ approach of using a bunch of pitchers instead of a traditional starter made it harder to create an ideal lineup, without too many lefthanded or righthanded hitters in a row.
“You try to not to leave yourself too susceptible to an advantage that they can gain,” he said. “That’s one challenge when they do the opener thing, the batting order has to be — you gotta think it out so you don’t leave yourself open.”
