Mets drop first game of key Brewers series in complete disaster

MILWAUKEE — The Mets still have everything at stake in the regular season and the Brewers nothing, but you wouldn’t have known it by Friday’s game.

About the most excited the Mets got was an irate Carlos Mendoza barking at plate umpire Ramon De Jesus before and after the manager was ejected for protesting a called third strike on Francisco Alvarez in the fourth inning.

The Mets were flat in all regards for a second straight game, and that was even before Alvarez grabbed for his lower back after sliding into third base in the seventh inning and had to depart.

The catcher, diagnosed with back spasms, needed teammates’ assistance to walk from the dugout to clubhouse.

A total disaster of a night for the Mets concluded with an 8-4 loss at American Family Field that left them tied with Atlanta and Arizona for the second NL wild card.

Two of the three teams will earn wild-card berths.

The Padres clinched the top wild-card seed Friday.

Francisco Lindor returned to the lineup after missing the previous eight games with lower back tightness and reached base three times — he was 2-for-4 with a walk — but the shortstop appeared unsteady at times and committed a throwing error that led to an unearned run.

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The Brewers, locked into a No. 3 seed for the postseason, weren’t content to take a passive approach and went 6-for-6 in stolen base attempts.

Five came with Alvarez behind the plate and another with Luis Torrens at catcher.

“They outplayed us today,” Lindor said. “They scored, ran the bases better than we did and they hit with runners in scoring position.”

In his worst start of the second half, Sean Manaea lasted only 3 ²/₃ innings and surrendered six runs, one unearned, on seven hits and two walks with one strikeout.

The start was his shortest since Aug. 10 in Seattle and the five earned runs allowed were his most since July 19 in Miami.

“It sucks,” Manaea said. “We’re fighting for our lives over here and to do that, it doesn’t feel good, but we are resilient.”

Mets nemesis Rhys Hoskins socked a grand slam in the first inning to give the Brewers a 4-0 lead. Manaea dug his own hole by walking William Contreras and Willy Adames with two outs to load the bases before Hoskins connected for his fifth career grand slam and third this season.

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The inning started with Brice Turang’s line drive off a leaping Lindor’s glove for a single.

Turang stole second and reached third on a wild pitch.

Lindor’s throwing error on Blake Perkins’ grounder in the second led to the Brewers scoring an unearned run on Turang’s double.

The Mets sliced their deficit to 5-2 on Mark Vientos’ two-run homer in the third against Frankie Montas.

Alvarez walked leading off the inning before Vientos, with one out, hit a towering drive that cleared the center field fence for his 27th homer of the season and second in as many games.

In the fourth, Jesse Winker got plunked with two outs and J.D. Martinez walked before Alvarez took a called third strike on a full-count pitch that appeared to be below the strike zone.

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Alvarez yelled at plate umpire De Jesus before Mendoza entered the scene to protect his player and was ejected.

Manaea’s night concluded after he allowed three straight hits in the fourth.

Turang singled and Garrett Mitchell’s double put runners on second and third before Jackson Chourio beat out an infield grounder for an RBI single that sunk the Mets in a 6-2 hole.

“As the game went on, the life on [Manaea’s] fastball at the top wasn’t there today,” Mendoza said.

Turang drew a two-out walk against Danny Young in the sixth and swiped second for his 50th stolen base of the season.

Turang reached third on a passed ball and scored on a wild pitch.

After the Mets scored twice in the eighth, Gary Sanchez launched a solo homer against Alex Young in the bottom of the inning to give the Brewers an 8-4 lead.

“I was very pleased with [our] at-bats and they kept fighting,” Mendoza said. “We didn’t give up.”

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