NEW YORK (AP) — Brandon Nimmo homered again, Juan Soto came through with a tiebreaking single and the New York Mets held off the Milwaukee Brewers 3-2 on Thursday night.
David Peterson (6-4) rebounded from a pair of rough starts, tossing 6 2/3 effective innings to give New York’s injury-ravaged rotation a much-needed boost.
Pete Alonso added an RBI double as the Mets took two of three from Milwaukee — just as they did in their Wild Card Series during the National League playoffs last October.
Next stop, the second Subway Series of the season against the crosstown-rival New York Yankees.
Fans in the sellout crowd of 42,241 received replica Soto jerseys on Fireworks Night, and the $765 million slugger gave New York a 2-1 lead in the sixth when he grounded an RBI single off hard-luck loser Jose Quintana (6-3), who spent the past two seasons with the Mets.
Alonso then drove the first pitch from reliever Nick Mears off the left-center fence for a double that made it 3-1.
Andruw Monasterio hit his first homer this year off Peterson in the seventh, but the Mets hung on for their second consecutive victory after losing 14 of 17.
Ryne Stanek got four straight outs, ending the eighth with a primal scream after striking out all three batters in the inning.
Edwin Díaz fanned two in a scoreless ninth for his 18th save in 19 opportunities.
Nimmo, who hit a grand slam Wednesday night off Brewers rookie sensation Jacob Misiorowski, connected for a solo shot in the second to put New York in front. Caleb Durbin tied it with a run-scoring infield single in the fourth.
The first pitch was delayed 37 minutes by rain.
Key moment
Díaz gave up a one-out single in the ninth to pinch-hitter Christian Yelich, who then got caught stealing. Yelich was initially ruled safe at second base before the call was overturned following a replay review.
Key stat
Soto, the NL player of the month for June, began the night batting only .145 with runners in scoring position.
Up next
Milwaukee RHP Quinn Priester (6-2, 3.35 ERA) starts Friday night in Miami against RHP Sandy Alcantara (4-8, 6.98), the 2022 NL Cy Young Award winner.
The Mets were undecided on a starter for their Subway Series opener against the Yankees at Citi Field.
