A trio of relievers combined to allow one run over the final 8 2/3 innings Wednesday night for the visiting Milwaukee Brewers, who cruised to an 8-1 win over the New York Mets in the middle game of a three-game series.
Brewers starter Dustin May left after he was struck in the upper back by an A.J. Ewing line drive on the only pitch May threw. Ewing was thrown out by third baseman David Hamilton, who fielded the ball after it bounced to the hot corner.
The Brewers said May had a bruised right shoulder blade and X-rays were negative.
Robert Gasser (4-5) allowed one run on six hits and two walks while striking out six in 5 1/3 innings in his first career relief appearance. Grant Anderson tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings before Bryse Wilson threw the final two frames to close out the Brewers’ seventh win in their last 10 games.
Brice Turang reached base three times in five plate appearances and hit a three-run homer. Sal Frelick had three hits and two RBIs, while Garrett Mitchell collected two hits and an RBI. Hamilton and Christian Yelich added a run-scoring single apiece.
Luis Lara and Cooper Pratt each had two hits and a stolen base.
Francisco Alvarez ended the combined shutout bid with a fourth-inning RBI single for the Mets, who fell to 13-9 this month. Marcus Semien and Brett Baty had two hits each.
Ewing stole two bases, both in the third.
Robert Stock (0-3) took the loss after allowing seven runs on 10 hits and two walks while striking out two over four innings.
The Brewers stranded two runners in scoring position in the first before scoring four runs on six singles — including the two-run hit by Frelick and RBI hits by Hamilton and Mitchell — in the second.
Pratt and Mitchell singled in the fourth before Turang delivered Milwaukee’s first extra-base hit, a 408-foot shot beyond the right field fence.
The Mets built a two-out rally in the fourth, when Baty walked and Semien singled ahead of Alvarez’s run-scoring single.
Yelich provided more insurance with his RBI single off Chayce McDermott in the sixth.
