NEW YORK -- Since returning to the United States to play in the Major Leagues, right-hander Colin Rea has been pitching to prove he belongs, getting his opportunity for an injury-riddled Brewers rotation.

On Monday night, he had his best start yet, helping the Crew earn a 2-1 win over Mets at Citi Field.

Rea entered the opener of a four-game series with a 4.88 ERA, but the Mets had difficulties in the batter’s box. In fact, Rea pitched a season-high 6 1/3 innings and allowed one run on three hits and one walk to go with three strikeouts.

“He pitched a really nice game,” manager Craig Counsell said. “He has had some good starts for us. Certainly, tonight was as good as any of them. He got us into the seventh inning, which was excellent.”

It was Rea’s longest big league start since pitching eight innings against the Mets on May 5, 2016, when he was a member of the Padres. Rea was aggressive in the zone from pitch one.

“I felt confident out there and [catcher William Contreras] did a good job behind the plate,” Rea said. “I felt we were executing, especially the fastball on both sides of the plate.

“We were able to get the balls away from the righties and go in on lefties when we needed to. We changed speeds as well.”

The Mets didn’t collect their first hit off Rea until the fourth inning, the same frame in which New York scored its only run.

After reaching on a leadoff single, Starling Marte stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by Contreras. Marte later scored on a sacrifice fly by Francisco Lindor. From there, Rea retired nine of the next 11 hitters he faced before being lifted in favor of left-hander Hoby Milner in the seventh inning.

“Like always, I'll give him a lot of credit. Two-seam, four-seam, cutter, all of them off the fastball gave him three different looks,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said about Rea. “… He kind of did what we thought coming in -- three different looks off the fastball. They appear as the same pitch, but there are three different movements with them. That's why you saw some weak contact."

Talk about perseverance: Rea has struggled to stay in the big leagues because of injuries and inconsistency since 2015. He even had a cup of coffee with the Brewers in 2021 before returning to Japan, where he was on the same pitching staff as Kodai Senga when they played for Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.

Prior to this season, Rea had a chance to sign a Major League deal with another team. However, he took his chances and signed a Minor League contract with Milwaukee in January.

Rea picked the Brewers because of the respect he has for the organization.

“I just love this organization,” Rea said. “We have a bunch of good people here. We have a great group in this clubhouse. I got a brief taste of it in 2021 when I was here. I looked forward to coming back.”

It looked like Rea was going to walk away with a loss or a no-decision because Milwaukee had missed opportunities in the early going against Mets right-hander Justin Verlander, who pitched five scoreless innings, but threw 100 pitches.

In fact, the Brewers went 0-for-6 against Verlander with runners in scoring position. In the first inning, Milwaukee had the bases loaded with one out. However, Owen Miller hit into a force play at the plate and Jesse Winker grounded out to end the threat.

“I thought we did a good job against [Verlander] without scoring,” Counsell said. “We put pressure on him for four of the five innings. It was a little frustrating not scoring.

“We left a bunch of men on base, but if you get to a bullpen after five, there is a chance."

But it went Milwaukee’s way against right-hander Drew Smith in the sixth inning, when Joey Wiemer hit a two-run homer that hit the Big Apple box in center field.

“He is hitting home runs,” Counsell said of Wiemer. “It’s not like there are a lot of hits. There have been home runs. There have been extra-base hits. They have been in big spots and he is still playing great defense.”

With the victory, the Brewers improved their overall record to 41-37 and 13-4 in one-run games this season. Their .765 win percentage in those games is the third highest by any team in such games in the Modern Era (since 1900), trailing only the 2016 Rangers and the 2023 Marlins.