MILWAUKEE – An otherwise grand night for the Brewers was tarnished by a tinge of concern for one of their starting outfielders – exactly the sort of thing they wanted to avoid with their postseason position set and Game 1 days away.

Sal Frelick, who grew up playing hockey in Boston and brings that all-out mentality to the baseball field, collided with the wall down the right-field line while chasing a foul ball at American Family Field in the third inning on Friday and had to leave Milwaukee’s 8-4 win over the Mets.

The nature and severity of Frelick’s injury were not known before the end of a game that added to the chaos of the NL Wild Card race. With the Mets' loss, the D-backs, Braves and Mets are all within a game of each other in the chase for two open berths, and one of those teams will match up against Milwaukee in a best-of-three NL Wild Card Series beginning Tuesday.

It was longtime Mets nemesis Rhys Hoskins who got the Brewers going when he smashed a grand slam in the first inning, tying Milwaukee’s franchise record for individual slams in a season (three) and matching the team record (10) at the same time. The Brewers also got three hits, three runs scored and three stolen bases from Brice Turang, making him the fifth player in franchise history with 50-plus steals in a season.

But it all happened amid worry for Frelick, the former first-round Draft pick whose value to the Brewers goes well beyond his .655 OPS. He is one of the Brewers’ best outfield defenders, and plays every day in part because he has relatively even splits against right-handed and left-handed pitching. Manager Pat Murphy batted Turang and Frelick in the 1-2 spots in the order because he wanted to get them as many at-bats as possible against Mets lefty starter Sean Manaea, expecting Turang and Frelick to get at-bats against southpaws in the postseason.

Running at full speed, Frelick leaped for the baseball and happened to find a spot where the padded wall has a cutout, appearing to smash his left hip into a chain link fence. He stayed on the ground for several minutes while medical staff attended to him.

After walking from the right-field corner to the dugout under his own power, Frelick put an arm around head athletic trainer Scott Barringer to get down the dugout steps, then put the other arm around strength coach Jason Meredith to make it the rest of the way into the clubhouse, where the team has medical facilities.