Mets muster one hit in 3-1 loss to Brewers on Opening Day

The Mets lost their season opener 3-1 to the Milwaukee Brewers at Citi Field. It was a rare Opening Day loss for a franchise that had won 41 of its last 54 openers.

The Mets managed only one hit on the day, a home run by Starling Marte in the second inning, as they were dominated by Freddy Peralta.

Here are the takeaways...

- An otherwise uneventful game turned spicy when Jeff McNeil objected to a hard, late slide at second base by Rhys Hoskins that caused both benches to empty and resulted in some yelling back and forth.

The Mets challenged that Hoskins' slide was illegal, which would have resulted in a double play, but it was upheld as legal. Nevertheless replays showed that Hoskins slid late enough to spike McNeil in the right leg and also crunch his left knee, which bent significantly upon impact.

McNeil immediately gestured toward Hoskins, who seemed unfazed but was seen yelling at the Mets’ second baseman from the dugout, and mocking him as well by indicating that he thought McNeil was a crybaby.

Hoskins has some history with the Mets during his years with the Philadelphia Phillies. He took offense to being hit by a pitch and then, after hitting a home run, took one of the longest home run trots ever, clocked at 34 seconds.

- A bounce-back season from Starling Marte would go a long way toward raising expectations for the Mets this season, and so it was a good sign when the right fielder drilled a home run to left in his first at-bat of the season, taking Peralta over the wall in in the second inning.

For Marte, who was shut down last August due to lingering effects of his double-groin surgery, it was his first home run since July 4 of last season. He turned on a 94-mph fastball, lining a laser off the iron fencing just above the wall, hit very hard at 109.2 mph.

Marte hit the ball hard in all three of his at-bats, following up the home run with a 107 mph one-hopper to shortstop and then a 98.1 mph fly ball to right that was caught at the fence.

- Drew Smith delivered an impressive relief outing, coming on for Jose Quintana with two runners on in the fifth and striking out Hoskins, swinging at a nasty slider, then working a 1-2-3 sixth inning.

Most notably, Smith relied primarily on his fastball, in the 94-95 mph range, after getting hurt in several key spots last year with hanging sliders. The right-hander got all three outs in the sixth on fly balls/pop-ups, beating hitters with velocity.

- Quintana had a so-so first start, giving up two runs in 4 2/3 innings, pulled with two runners on base before Smith struck out Hoskins.

Quintana worked through significant traffic, allowing six hits and two walks. He also gave up a home run, rare for him, as Christian Yelich pulled a breaking ball over the fence in right field. The Mets’ left-hander has been stingy with the long ball in recent years, giving up only five in 13 starts last season and 13 over his last two seasons.

- The Brewers cost themselves an early lead in the first inning with overly conservative baserunning. Speedy rookie Jackson Chourio was held at third base on Yelich’s one-out single to left by third base coach Jason Lane, unusual because teams often run on Brandon Nimmo’s arm.

Then, manager Pat Murphy chose not to run Yelich from first on a 3-2 pitch to Hoskins, all of which allowed Quintana to escape unscathed as Hoskins grounded into an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play.

Brett Baty made a nice play on the slowly hit ball, charging hard and then getting rid of the ball quickly while on the move.

Game MVP: Freddy Peralta

The Brewers’ starter dominated the Mets’ lineup, allowing only one hit over six innings while racking up eight strikeouts.

In doing so, Peralta offered an untimely reminder that acquiring him was one of Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns’ best moves during his years as GM of the Brewers, trading veteran first baseman Adam Lind to the Seattle Mariners for Peralta, then a minor league pitcher, and two other minor leaguers as well.

Peralta developed into a very good starting pitcher in Milwaukee, making the All-Star team in 2021 and, along with Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff, giving the Brewers a Big Three that led them to postseason berths in five of the last six seasons.

Highlights

What's next

The Mets and Brewers play Game 2 of 162 on Saturday at 1:40 p.m. on SNY.

Luis Severino makes his first start for New York (NL).