Mets beat Brewers, now play for wild-card berth Monday

David Peterson tossed seven innings of one-hit ball and earned the win Sunday afternoon for the visiting New York Mets, who ensured themselves an opportunity to play for a postseason berth Monday by beating the Milwaukee Brewers 5-0.

The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Mets (88-72), who can clinch a National League wild-card spot by winning at least once in Atlanta against the Braves during Monday’s makeup doubleheader. The teams had the final two games of their series postponed last week due to Hurricane Helene.

The Mets are in a virtual tie for the final two wild-card spots with the Arizona Diamondbacks (89-73), who defeated the San Diego Padres, and the Braves (88-72), who lost x-x to the Kansas City Royals.

New York has the tiebreaker over Arizona by virtue of its 4-3 edge in the season series. The Mets can clinch the second wild card by sweeping the Braves, who lead the season series 6-5.

The outcome of the NL wild-card race will impact the NL Central-winning Brewers (93-69), who are slated to begin an NL wild-card series Tuesday against the sixth seed.

Peterson (10-3) concluded a breakout regular season by walking three and striking out eight. The left-hander, who allowed a first-inning infield single to Jackson Chourio, held the Brewers hitless in five at-bats with runners on base.

Peterson finished with a 2.90 ERA in a career-high 121 innings. He entered the season with a 4.51 ERA over his first four big league campaigns.

Francisco Lindor was 2-for-4 with a homer, two RBIs and two stolen bases for the Mets. He is one stolen base shy of his second straight 30 homer-30 steal season.

Francisco Alvarez had two RBIs, one on a single and the other on a sacrifice fly. Alvarez, Mark Vientos, J.D. Martinez and Jose Iglesias had two hits each. Iglesias’ third-inning single extended his hitting streak to a career-long 20 games.

Colin Rea (12-6) took the loss after allowing the five runs on 10 hits and three walks while striking out five over 5 2/3 innings.

This article first appeared on Field Level Media and was syndicated with permission.