Mets cough up slim lead, drop series opener to Brewers 2-1

Note: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links, Schneps Media may earn a commission.

Milwaukee Brewers’ Joey Wiemer, center, is congratulated by Jesse Winker (33) after hitting a two-run home run during the sixth inning of a baseball game as New York Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez, right, looks on Monday, June 26, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

QUEENS — With a far tighter rope to work with compared to Sunday’s eighth-inning collapse in Philadelphia, the New York Mets’ bullpen coughed up another lead to doom dormant bats in a 2-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night at Citi Field. 

Nursing a 1-0 lead after Justin Verlander’s laborious outing, reliever Drew Smith — in his first game back from a 10-game sticky-stuff suspension — served up a two-run home run to Joey Wiemer in the sixth inning. 

“I yanked it down a little bit,” Smith said of the middle-middle fastball he left for the Brewers’ center fielder. “Not a good spot with two strikes and a 2-2 count. I have to execute.”

Colin Rea shut down the Mets for 6.1 innings, allowing just one run on a Francisco Lindor sacrifice fly while yielding just three hits — the only three hits the hosts posted all night — relegating New York (35-43) to its seventh loss in nine games. 

“We had three hits and scored one run,” manager Buck Showalter began. “I’m not going to hang this one on [Smith]. We should be able to create some margin of error for a guy coming back.”

Verlander battled through five scoreless innings but did little to help an already-taxed bullpen. Striking out five, he yielded five hits, two walks, and his first hit batter of the year to work his way through eight Milwaukee men left on base. Brewers batters went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position against the veteran right-hander.

“It was a bit of a grind,” Verlander said. “I was working on a lot of things, changing some mechanics, lowering my slider a little…