10/4/24 Hometown Broadcasting Sports Friday
4 October 2024 Sports
From Wayne Mausser
Pete Alonso hit a go-ahead, three-run homer off closer Devin Williams in the ninth inning and the New York Mets beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-2 on Thursday night to win their NL Wild Card Series.
With their latest thrilling comeback in the decisive Game 3 against Milwaukee, the Mets advanced in the playoffs for the first time since winning the 2015 National League pennant. They move on to a best-of-five Division Series beginning Saturday in Philadelphia against the NL East champion Phillies.
It will be the first postseason meeting between the longtime rivals.
New York went 6-7 against the Phillies during the regular season and finished six games behind them in the division standings.
The Brewers, making their sixth playoff appearance in the last seven years, still haven’t won a postseason series since reaching Game 7 of the NL Championship Series in 2018.
This series loss will be particularly painful.
Milwaukee appeared to have the victory in hand after Jake Bauers and Sal Frelick broke a scoreless tie by opening the seventh inning with back-to-back homers off José Buttó. Tobias Myers and three relievers had combined on a two-hit shutout through the first eight innings.
Twelve straight Mets had been retired when they opened the ninth against Williams, a two-time NL reliever of the year who had earned the save Wednesday in Milwaukee’s Game 2 victory.
But he wasn’t his normal self on this night.
Francisco Lindor opened the ninth by walking on a 3-2 pitch outside. After Mark Vientos struck out, Brandon Nimmo singled to put runners at the corners.
That brought up Alonso, who has 226 career homers in six seasons but hadn’t gone deep since Sept. 19.
After getting ahead 3-1 in the count, Alonso sent a 3-1 changeup over the wall in right field. He put his fingers to his mouth in a “chef’s kiss” gesture as he rounded first and gave the Mets the lead.
Williams remained in the game but never regained his footing. Jesse Winker was hit by a pitch with two outs, stole second and scored an insurance run on Starling Marte’s single to right. Winker, a former Brewer who was showered with boos throughout the series, screamed and slammed his helmet to the ground after sliding across the plate.
The ninth-inning comeback continued New York’s storybook season. The Mets were 22-33 in late May but played as well as anyone in baseball the rest of the regular season. They didn’t clinch a playoff berth until they scored all their runs in the final two innings of an 8-7 victory over Atlanta in the opening game of a doubleheader Monday, the day after the regular season was supposed to end.
Frelick led off the bottom of the ninth with a single, but Joey Ortiz struck out and Brice Turang hit into a double play to end the series.
Edwin Díaz pitched 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to earn the win. David Peterson, making his first relief appearance of the season, worked the ninth to pick up his first major league save.
The game started out as a pitchers’ duel between Myers and New York’s Jose Quintana. Myers pitched five shutout innings, while Quintana held the Brewers scoreless through six.
The MLB Divisional Series get underway Saturday. The Tigers play on the road against the Indians and the Royals are on the road against the Yankees. In the National League the Mets play at Philadelphia against the Phillies and the Padres are at the Dodgers.
The Packers are getting ready for the Rams Sunday in Los Angeles. Green Bay (2-2) lost at home to the Vikings this past Sunday, 31-29 while the Rams (1-3) lost on the road to the Bears.
Jordan Love returned from a two-game absence with a knee injury to pass for career highs of 389 yards and four touchdowns, albeit with three interceptions, during the failed comeback after the Packers trailed 28-0. Love and the Packers’ third-ranked offense look like trouble for the Rams, who have the NFL’s second-worst defense through four games, allowing 385.3 yards. A regression was expected with the retirement of Aaron Donald and the departure of coordinator Raheem Morris, but Los Angeles is struggling to be competitive while allowing 28.8 points per game — also the second-worst mark in the league.
The pregame starts at 1:00 with the kickoff at 3:25 on FM 1023, The Bug.
In Thursday Night Football the Falcons won at home in overtime over the Buccaneers, 36-30. Kirk Cousins was tremendous in the win, overcoming a late interception to throw for a career-high 509 yards and 4 touchdowns to llead the Falcons to victory.
Wisconsin won’t have its leading rusher when it attempts to bounce back from a two-game skid.
The Badgers in a statement Thursday said Chez Mellusi is stepping away from the team on at least a temporary basis as he works to get healthy.
“We want to let people know that Chez is going to be stepping away from the team for now and working to get his body healthy,” the statement said. “He’s endured many injuries and has worked extremely hard to be able to play this year, but his body hasn’t responded the way he expected. We’re here to support Chez in any way we can and hope he’ll be back on the football field again one day.”
Mellusi has rushed for 232 yards on 56 carries to lead Wisconsin in both categories. His three touchdown runs put him in a tie for the team lead with Tawee Walker.
Mellusi has rushed for 2,254 yards during a career that has included two seasons at Clemson (2019-20) and four seasons at Wisconsin (2021-24). All but 71 of his 463 carries have come at Wisconsin.
Injuries have limited him for much of his time with the Badgers.
Mellusi rushed for 815 yards in nine games in 2021 before a torn ACL knocked him out for the rest of that season. He missed four games with an arm injury in 2022, and a leg injury limited him to just four games last year.
Wisconsin (2-2, 0-1 Big Ten) plays host to Purdue (1-3, 0-1) on Saturday. The pregame starts at 9:00 with the kickoff at 11:00 on AM 1600/03.1 FM, WRPN.
Ripon College (1-2, 1-1 is at Grinnell College Saturday with the kickoff at 2:00.
UW-Oshkosh (2-1) is UW-Whitewater with the kickoff at 1:00.
High School Football
Mauston at Ripon-The pregame starts around 6:45 with the kickoff at 7:00 on AM 1600/93.1 FM, WRPN.
Wautoma at Waupun
Berlin at Wisconsin Dells
Nekoosa at Adams-Friendship
Waupaca at Winneconne
Campbellsport at Laconia
Markesan at Waterloo
Omro at Winnebago Lutheran (Sat.)
Saint Mary’s Springs at Lomira
North Fond du Lac at Mayville
Lourdes Academy at Dodgeland
Oshkosh West at Appleton East
Fond du Lac at Hortonville
Share |