MILWAUKEE — The smoke hung so thick on the field that it was tough to make out the numbers on the jerseys. The Milwaukee Brewers set off fireworks after each home run at American Family Field and there were five of them hit against the Mets on Tuesday night.
With the roof closed on a chilly, rainy night the smoke had nowhere to go.
Max Scherzer (1-1) gave up three straight bombs to Rowdy Tellez, Brian Anderson and Garrett Mitchell in the sixth after being tagged for two runs in the first inning. Brooks Raley gave up back-to-back homers to Anderson and Mitchell in the seventh, and for the second time in as many days, the Mets were shut out, losing 9-0 on Tuesday night.
It was another dismal showing for the Mets (3-3). The Brewers (4-1) have scored 19 unanswered runs over the first two games of the series. The Mets couldn’t figure out left-hander Wade Miley (1-0), who allowed five hits, struck out three and hit one over six innings.
Brandon Nimmo went 3-for-4 and Jeff McNeil went 3-for-3, but the Mets failed to capitalize on the opportunities they had to create any offense.
The Mets were in a 2-0 hole after the first inning. Scherzer started the game by issuing three straight singles and a one-out, two-RBI double to Anderson, who has killed the Mets through two games of the series with three home runs and nine RBI. The ace cruised through the second, third and fourth inning and received some strong defense in the fifth. Scherzer got one out in the sixth before the three straight homers, something he has done only one other time in his career (July 21, 2017, against the Arizona Diamondbacks). All three pitches were of the offspeed variety, left right out over the middle of plate with the exception of the pitch to Mitchell — a knee-high slider inside.
Scherzer was then pulled for right-hander Denyi Reyes, who was called up earlier in the day to replace Tommy Hunter on the roster after the reliever was placed on the 15-day injured list with back spasms.
Raley had two on and two out before Anderson hit one right to the batter’s eye, 408 feet to dead center. It was just over the reach of a leaping Nimmo and put the Brewers up 8-0. Mitchell pulled the ball over the right field fence to make it 9-0.
The Mets have played two ugly games in Milwaukee and will play one more Wednesday afternoon before returning to Citi Field for the first home series of the 2023 season. If the Mets continue to play like this, the boos in Queens will be even heavier than the smoke in Wisconsin.
