Ortiz Triples Twice, Yelich Delivers as Brewers Edge Mets 4-3
Joey Ortiz went 3-for-3 with 2 RBI and scored twice, and Christian Yelich drove in 2 more as Milwaukee held off a late New York push to win 4-3 on Wednesday. The Mets made it interesting in the ninth but couldn't complete the comeback.
The game turned in the second inning, and it turned fast. Marcus Semien gave New York the early lead with a 377-foot homer to left, but Milwaukee answered immediately and emphatically. Ortiz tripled to right, scoring Mitchell and Vaughn to flip the lead 2-1 — a swing that pushed Milwaukee's win probability from 63% to 82% in a single at-bat. Yelich then singled to left to score Ortiz, and just like that the Brewers had a 3-1 lead before New York's starter could find his footing. Christian Scott lasted only 3.2 innings, allowing 4 hits, 3 earned runs, and 3 walks while striking out 6. That's a tough line to overcome.
New York chipped away. Brett Baty hit a 366-foot solo shot to right in the fifth to make it 3-2, and the Mets looked like they had genuine life. But Yelich — who finished 2-for-5 — wasn't done. In the sixth, he tripled to right to score Ortiz again, pushing the lead back to two at 4-2. That insurance run looks like it was the difference. Logan Henderson gave Milwaukee 5 solid innings — 5 hits, 2 earned runs, 0 walks, and 9 strikeouts — and Aaron Ashby followed with 2 scoreless innings, surrendering no hits and striking out 4. That's a combined 7 innings of work from Milwaukee arms that kept New York's lineup largely in check.
The Mets made one last push in the ninth. Francisco Alvarez singled to left to score Taylor and pull it to 4-3, but that's as close as they'd get. Abner Uribe closed it out, allowing 2 hits but no runs while striking out 2. The story of the night was Ortiz — going 3-for-3, scoring twice, and delivering the at-bat that effectively decided the game in the second inning. A.J. Ewing went 2-for-5 for New York but didn't factor into the scoring. The Mets had the pieces to make noise late, but digging a 3-1 hole in the second inning against a Milwaukee staff that was sharp all night appears to have been too much to fully overcome.