MILWAUKEE — It took an extra day to determine the opponent, but the National League Central champion Brewers will host the New York Mets on Tuesday in the opener of an NL wild-card series.
The Mets earned the No. 6 seed Monday by winning the first game of a make-up doubleheader at Atlanta. The Braves won the second game 3-0 to claim the No. 5 seed and a date against the host San Diego Padres in the other wild-card series.
Monday’s results eliminated the Arizona Diamondbacks from playoff contention. The defending NL champions needed one team to sweep Monday’s doubleheader, which made up for two hurricane-related postponements last week.
New York won Monday’s opener 8-7 on Francisco Lindor’s two-run homer in the top of the ninth. The Mets scored six runs in the eighth, only to see Atlanta rally with four in the bottom half for a 7-6 lead.
“We’ve answered the bell and we’ve earned the right to play in the postseason,” New York first baseman Pete Alonso said. “This is when we have a great opportunity in front of us.”
Freddy Peralta (11-9, 3.68 ERA) will pitch Tuesday for Milwaukee, while fellow right-hander Luis Severino (11-7, 3.91) gets the nod for the Mets.
The Brewers clinched the NL Central title with 10 games remaining and won five of their last seven games. They won two of three against New York in the final series and finished 5-1 against the Mets this season.
“This team hasn’t worried about who they’re playing all year,” first-year Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said Monday before the first-round opponent was known.
” … It’s not our M.O. to kind of forecast and plan, it’s just prepare to play good, then play good, and then treat yourself good. That’s kind of our rhythm.”
The Brewers are in the postseason for the sixth time in seven seasons but have struggled there lately.
Milwaukee has gone 1-8 in playoff games since losing Game 7 of the 2018 National League Championship Series to the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers. Last year’s playoff disappointment came via a sweep by visiting Arizona in the wild-card round.
“We feel different,” Peralta said Monday. “I can tell. Even today, the vibes that we have right now, you can see on everybody’s face that we are all knowing where we are, knowing where we’re going, and where we want to be.”
Peralta, who assumed the No. 1 spot in the rotation when Corbin Burnes was traded to Baltimore before the season, went 3-2 with a 2.48 ERA in his last seven starts. He totaled 173 2/3 innings over 32 starts — both career highs — and finished with 200 strikeouts.
The 28-year-old is 0-1 with a 3.46 ERA in four postseason appearances, including two starts. He allowed four runs over five innings in last year’s 5-2 loss to Arizona in Game 2.
In his lone start against the Mets this season on March 29, Peralta allowed one run on a solo homer over six innings in a 3-1 win.
Severino was 2-1 with 3.64 ERA in five starts in September. He allowed four runs in four innings in a 5-1 loss at the Braves last Tuesday.
The 30-year-old is 1-4 with a 5.15 ERA in 11 postseason outings, including 10 starts. He surrendered six runs (three earned) on 11 hits over five innings in a 7-6 loss to the Brewers on March 30.
Milwaukee outfielder Sal Frelick ran the bases and shagged fly balls Monday and said he was “good to go,” but his status still is undetermined.
Frelick, who batted .259 and stole 18 bases in 145 games this season, suffered a bone bruise in his left hip when he crashed into an unpadded section of the wall on Friday.
–Jim Hoehn, Field Level Media