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Heartbreak for Brewers as Devin Williams falters at ninth vs. Mets

Vaseline October 4, 2024

Absolute, utter heartbreak.

How else can you describe the turn of events for the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday night?

Three outs away from exorcizing the postseason demons that have haunted them since 2018, their hopes were instead crushed when Devin Williams was on the mound to close out Game 3 of the teams’ National League wild-card series.

The right-hander allowed a pair of baserunners with one out in the ninth inning and brought on slugger Pete Alonso. Up to that point in the series, he was quiet, stunning the sold-out crowd of 41,594 at American Family Field by hitting a three-run home run to right field.

MORE: Box score

The sixth-seeded New York Mets scored another run against Williams before chasing him down, and the third-seeded Brewers ultimately fell 4–2, their season ending in crushing fashion.

Just two innings earlier, it was pandemonium as Jake Bauers and Sal Frelick homered on consecutive Jose Butto pitches to give Milwaukee a 2-0 lead.

Now the Brewers are forced to sit through the winter with yet another postseason blowout — this one as unlikely as it comes — instead of making plans for an NL Division Series game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park that starts on Saturday.

What a turn of events for the Brewers

Unable to get anything going offensively against Jose Quintana in the first six innings, the Brewers’ offense woke up against Butto in the seventh.

Awakens in one big road that is.

The left-handed Bauers, called on to bat for Rhys Hoskins with the right-handed Butto replacing Quintana, fell behind 1-2 in the count before filling the ball again.

Butto’s sixth throw was a big changeup left over center that Bauers didn’t miss as he sent it 400 feet right to break the scoreless deadlock.

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But Milwaukee wasn’t done yet, as Frelick followed by going down and taking a 96 mph fastball from Butto and driving it 400 feet into the second deck to absolutely electrify the crowd.

It was the second big hit for Bauers in meaningful games; it was his walkoff single that clinched the Central Division title for the Brewers on September 18.

And it was Frelick’s first homer since all the way back on May 15. Remember, the right fielder wasn’t even allowed to play in the series after suffering a left hip contusion in a collision with the right field wall. last weekend.

Devin Williams couldn’t close it out

Things lined up perfectly for the Brewers after scoreless innings from Trevor Megill, Nick Mears and, surprisingly, Freddy Peralta.

That brought the Brewers’ closer with just three outs to go, but with the top of the Mets order on the way.

Williams immediately made things difficult for himself by walking leadoff man Francisco Lindor. He followed by striking out Mark Vientos, then allowing a single to Brandon Nimmo, putting runners on the corners for Alonso.

Williams fell behind, 3-1, and then left a changeup across the plate that Alonso drilled 100 yards to right, stunning Williams and the crowd.

But the Mets weren’t done yet as they embarked on an insurance run. Williams hit Winker, who stole second, then Starling Marte singled to right to score Winker.

Joe Ross had to replace Williams at that point (34 pitches) and he ended the inning. Frelick singled against David Peterson to open the bottom of the ninth, but Joey Ortiz struck out and Brice Turang grounded into a game-ending double play.

William Contreras was hampered

Originally lined up at catcher, as usual, William Contreras flip-flopped with Gary Sánchez, and Sánchez got the start at catcher.

The reason? A bent left knee. The lineup change was made after manager Pat Murphy spoke to the media, so there was no explanation as to whether it was something that surfaced recently or if Contreras had been working on the issue for a while.

Contreras could be seen wearing a thick brace under his uniform pants and, while never a speed merchant to begin with, he made things harder for himself by hitting the ball on the ground in each of his first two at-bats (both groundouts).

Tobias Myers lived up to the moment

On a team full of young and inexperienced players, rookie Tobias Myers undoubtedly had the most pressure on him in the series where he was called up to start for the Brewers in the winner-take-all Game 3.

And as he has done all season, the right-hander rose to the challenge.

He surrendered a leadoff hustle double to Lindor, a two-out single to Lindor in the third and hit Jesse Winker to lead off the fifth – that was it for the baserunners against him over five shutout innings.

Myers struck out five, including two consecutive strikeouts after the Winker plunking, and then got No. 9 hitter Francisco Alvarez to pop out to end his night with his 66th pitch.

Somewhat uncharacteristically – but completely understandably – Myers strode down the hill after that final outing, egging himself on and clearly enjoying the gem he had spun. Removing him at that point completely fit the Brewers’ script, with the team not wanting to expose Myers to the Mets via command for a third time.

Megill took over for Myers entering the sixth.

Jose Quintana back to his old tricks

Unfortunately for Myers, his left-handed counterpart Jose Quintana was also up to the task.

The crafty veteran started in Milwaukee for the second time in five days and limited the Brewers to three hits and a walk in his six innings of work.

While striking out just five batters (four fewer than last Saturday), Quintana generated eight ground-ball outs and allowed virtually no hard contact during his 94-pitch outing.

In a bit of interesting timing, the 35-year-old was exactly six years and two days removed from starting and losing to the Brewers in that memorable Game 163 that clinched the Central Division title for Milwaukee at Wrigley Field.

Quintana’s mastery of the Brewers over the years has been well documented, and his performance in this one was just another chapter in the book.