NEW YORK -- Manny Piña’s home run was the first of three that helped the Brewers salvage the second game of a split seven-inning doubleheader on Wednesday, as they won Game 2, 5-0, over the Mets at Citi Field. The victory ended Milwaukee's three-game losing streak and improved its record to 52-36.

In Game 1, Milwaukee ended up with a 4-3 loss in eight innings. Jeff McNeil came to the plate in the eighth and singled to center field, scoring Francisco Lindor and Dominic Smith to walk it off for New York.

The second game was scoreless when Milwaukee took the lead in the second inning against Mets right-hander Robert Stock. After Jace Peterson led off with a walk, Piña followed and swung at a 3-2 pitch, knocking the ball over the left-center-field wall to give the Brewers a 2-0 lead.

Four innings later, Milwaukee increased its lead to 3-0 when Willy Adames hit a solo homer off Drew Smith. It was Adames’ 14th home run of the season, and ninth with the Brewers.

An inning later with right-hander Miguel Castro on the mound, the Brewers added some insurance runs on a two-run homer by Luis Urías, who also had a leadoff homer in Game 1 off Jacob deGrom.

“Luis has quietly had a good season, and it continued this week in New York,” manager Craig Counsell said.

Peterson also homered off deGrom in the fifth inning of Game 1, which had given the Brewers a short-lived lead at the time.

After missing time because of a right-knee contusion, Brewers left-hander Brett Anderson made his first start in 16 days. Anderson was solid, pitching four shutout innings and allowing three hits.

“He wasn’t on the mound for two weeks. He came out and he was sharp, throwing a lot of strikes, [getting] ground balls,” Counsell said. “I’m not sure if the Mets hit the ball crisply. He threw the ball really well. I was hoping for three innings, and to give us four innings was a big boost.”

Anderson didn’t pick up the victory because he didn’t pitch the required five innings, though it looked like he could have pitched another inning.

“It might have been a different story if it was a nine-inning game, but being it was a seven-inning game, I felt good about [the outing],” Anderson said.

Jake Cousins, who won his first Major League game, Brad Boxberger and Hunter Strickland blanked New York the rest of the way. Of the relievers who entered the game, Boxberger had the most interesting outing. He entered in the sixth with the Brewers up, 3-0, and walked the first three hitters he faced to load the bases.

Was Counsell thinking about taking Boxberger out of the game? Yes. The skipper was going to give him a chance to get one more hitter out. But after striking out Lindor looking, Boxberger stayed in the game and struck out Dominic Smith and Pete Alonso to end the threat.

“He really struggled during his first 20 pitches of that inning … then he dialed it in,” Counsell said. "He was probably mad at himself a little bit to [have gotten] himself in that jam, but he had a way of fixing himself during that inning and not letting it snowball. Brad stays within himself, stays in control. He figures how to fix himself and that’s what he did tonight. It ended up as a zero inning.”

The Brewers now play seven straight games against the Reds -- four before the All-Star break and three more afterward. Cincinnati is now in second place, six games behind Milwaukee.

“It’s a lot of games against a team in a short amount of time,” Counsell said. “I’ve never seen a schedule like this. We play the team that follows us. As much as anything, when we think about this series, we have a chance to finish the break on a good note.”