MILWAUKEE (AP) — Max Scherzer was pulled from his 200th win with a perfect game intact, and the New York Mets clinched their first playoff berth in six years by beating the Milwaukee Brewers 7-2 on Monday night.
Reinstated from the injured list before the game, Scherzer (10-4) struck out nine in six innings. The 38-year-old ace threw only 68 pitches, but that was as far as the NL East leaders let him go in his first start in 16 days.
Brewers star Christian Yelich doubled leading off the seventh against Tylor Megill, making his first major league relief appearance after 27 starts. Megill also came off the injured list Monday.
Pete Alonso hit a three-run homer off reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes (10-8), and the Mets won their fifth straight to wrap up at least one of the three National League wild cards. They lead the NL East by one game over defending World Series champion, Atlanta, which beat Washington 5-2 at home.
It is the 10th postseason appearance in the franchise's 61-season history, and first since the Mets lost to San Francisco in the 2016 NL wild-card game.
Scherzer was activated Monday after recovering from left oblique irritation. Mets manager Buck Showalter said before the game “we’re not going to go too deep with Max physically” in his first big league start since Sept. 3.
In his fourth try for win No. 200, the three-time Cy Young Award winner fanned Yelich, Willy Adames, Hunter Renfroe and Garrett Mitchell two times each.
Andrew McCutchen hit a 104 mph line drive to right field off Scherzer in the second, but it was caught by a sliding Tyler Naquin to end the inning.
Scherzer sprinted to the mound before the bottom of each inning. He often had the ball in hand before any of his teammates, aside from catcher Tomás Nido or a warmup catcher, emerged from the dugout.
A smiling Scherzer received a hearty round of high-fives from teammates when he returned to the dugout after the sixth, indicating he was done for the night.
Scherzer exited his previous start with fatigue on his left side and went on the IL with oblique irritation. He also went on the injured list with a left oblique strain in May and was activated July 5.
The loss dropped Milwaukee 8½ games behind first-place St. Louis in the NL Central and 2½ games back of Philadelphia for the third NL wild card. The Cardinals and Phillies were idle. The Brewers had won two of three games against the Yankees in Milwaukee over the weekend.
With one out in the fourth, Burnes gave up consecutive singles before Alonso hit a 1-2 changeup 437 feet for his 36th home run to stake New York to a 3-0 lead.
Alonso’s 118 RBIs lead the NL.
New York extended its lead to 5-0 in the sixth inning after back-to-back triples by Brandon Nimmo and Francisco Lindor, and an RBI double by Daniel Vogelbach.
The previous Mets players to hit consecutive triples were Jose Reyes and Jason Bay in April 2010.
Rowdy Tellez hit a two-run homer off Megill in the seventh, his 32nd.
ROSTER MOVES
Mets: RHP Stephen Nogosek and LHP Alex Claudio were optioned to Triple-A Syracuse.
Brewers: RHP Jake Cousins was recalled from Triple-A Nashville and took over for Burnes in the sixth. RHP Trevor Kelley was optioned to Nashville.
UP NEXT
The middle game of the series is Tuesday night. LHP Aaron Ashby (2-10, 4.58 ERA) will return from a stint on the IL with left shoulder inflammation to start a bullpen game for Milwaukee. New York goes with RHP Carlos Carrasco (15-6, 3.70). He gave up one run over six innings in each of his last two starts, striking out 17 total batters.
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