Mets try to escape cellar, play spoiler against MLB-best Brewers

The New York Mets found a way to win another close game Tuesday night, with the Milwaukee Brewers the disappointed opponent.

The Mets will look to continue their late-season surge Wednesday night when they host the Brewers in the middle game of a three-game series.

Robert Stock (0-2, 5.40 ERA) will start for the Mets against the Brewers' Dustin May (6-8, 4.57) in a battle of right-handers.

Francisco Lindor homered in the fifth inning and scored the winning run in the 10th on Tuesday as the Mets beat the Brewers 3-2.

Lindor helped make extra innings possible in the ninth when he robbed David Hamilton of a tie-breaking hit with a diving catch at shortstop to leave the bases loaded.

Lindor ended the bottom of the inning by getting picked off first base, making him the automatic runner in the 10th, and he scored the winning run on a throwing error by Hamilton, the third baseman.

"The team has picked me up more times than I've picked them up this year," Lindor said. "To be there for the guys, it meant a lot."

The Mets, who haven't finished last in the National League East since 2003, have gone 13-8 this month to inch within one game of the fourth-place Washington Nationals. New York also is 5-1 in one-run games in August after going just 10-20 in such contests through July 31.

Despite their second straight narrow loss, the Brewers remained a game ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the race for the best record in baseball and the No. 1 seed in postseason.

Milwaukee fell to the Atlanta Braves 4-2 on Sunday night when William Contreras' potential walk-off home run was caught at the wall in center field in the ninth. The Brewers, who were off on Monday, are 4-for-26 with runners in scoring position in the past two games. They were hitless in their final eight plate appearances -- all with at least one runner in scoring position -- Tuesday following Christian Yelich's game-tying, pinch-hit RBI double in the ninth.

The Brewers are 7-8 in games decided by two runs or less this month. They were 28-21 in games decided by two runs or less through July 31.

"We've won a lot of those games, let's be honest," manager Pat Murphy said. "More than our fair share. And when you go through a rut where you lose two close ones like that -- every team goes through it. So we have to be big boys and go through it."

Stock didn't factor into the decision in his most recent start last Wednesday, when he gave up one run over 4 1/3 innings in the Mets' 4-2 win over the San Diego Padres.

Stock is 0-1 with a 3.60 ERA in two career games (one start) against the Brewers but has not faced them since the 2021 season.

For Milwaukee, May took the 7-5 loss to the Seattle Mariners last Wednesday after allowing seven runs over two innings.

He is 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA in four games (three starts) against the Mets. He earned the win on June 9, when he tossed six scoreless innings to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 7-0 victory at Citi Field.

May was shipped to Milwaukee in a trade deadline deal this month.

--Field Level Media