Crew tags deGrom, falls in extras in G1

NEW YORK -- It started as a pitchers’ duel between Brewers All-Star Corbin Burnes and Mets ace Jacob deGrom on Wednesday afternoon at Citi Field. When it was over, Milwaukee ended up with a 4-3 loss in eight innings of the first game of a split seven-inning doubleheader.

Both Burnes and deGrom ended up with a no-decision, and it turned out to be a bullpen game. The game went into extra innings, then the Brewers scored the go-ahead run against Mets closer Edwin Díaz in the top of the eighth.

With the bases loaded and two outs, Christian Yelich was hit by a pitch to send home Jace Peterson to give the Brewers a 3-2 lead. But left-hander Brent Suter couldn’t retire a batter in the bottom of the eighth.

Before anyone knew it, the bases were loaded with no outs in the bottom of the inning. Jeff McNeil came to the plate and singled to center field, scoring Francisco Lindor and Dominic Smith to walk it off.

“Suter was going to get to those guys," Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said. "That’s the inning for him, really. We were going to go with [Brad Boxberger] in the next inning. I thought Suter fit well.”

McNeil simply wanted to get the tying run home.

“I [wanted] to put together a good at-bat. I [wanted] to get a pitch to hit there, and I was able to do that,” McNeil said. “ I was lucky enough to get a single there that won the game. But I'm up there trying to hit something to the outfield, put a good swing on it, get that one run in. The second is a bonus."

It seemed like Burnes was going to get his fifth victory of the season. The game was in a 1-1 tie until the fifth inning, when Peterson hit a go-ahead home run over the right-center-field wall off deGrom. Burnes pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing one run on six hits and striking out eight.

“After about the third inning is when I thought everything started to click. I felt good after that,” Burnes said. “That was the first time I was able to pitch against deGrom. You obviously want to go out there and pitch against the best. He had his stuff working. He went out and did his thing.”

But Brewers closer Josh Hader couldn’t do his thing in the bottom of the seventh inning. He blew his first game of the season by allowing José Peraza to hit a pinch-hit solo homer to tie the game at 2. It was the first homer that Hader allowed this season.

Was Hader rusty? The last time he pitched was on June 29. The way Counsell saw it, Hader should have been well rested.

“I think [the fact] we were able to get him some time off was a good thing,” Counsell said. “He has been up probably five times [in the bullpen] in the last 10 days. He has not been inactive. … I don’t think it was rust at all there. I think a hitter just put a good swing on the ball.”

deGrom was just as dominant, allowing two runs in seven innings with 10 strikeouts. But the two runs he allowed came on home runs. Luis Urías led off the game with a homer, which ended an 0-for-19 skid.

Peterson, who is replacing the injured Kolten Wong, hit his fourth home run of the season.

“The game went as we expected it to,” Counsell said. “We scored how we have to score. You hit a home run. You hardly put together a rally against [deGrom]. We did our job and had a couple of homers. We put ourselves in a good position. [The Mets] had good at-bats late in the game.”