NEW YORK – Rhys Hoskins drove in four runs, a day after his hard slide into Jeff McNeil caused dugouts to empty, and Yohan Ramírez was ejected for throwing behind the back of Milwaukee's designated hitter in the Brewers’ 7-6 victory over the New York Mets on Saturday.
“I’m a competitor, no doubt about it — people boo you, people doubt you, people do whatever they do, it’s always nice to prove people wrong,” Hoskins said, “So yeah, I’m ecstatic about what I was able to do to help us win a game today. We won a series on the road to start the year in a place that’s not easy to do so. Stoked about that.”
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Hoskins hit a two-run single in a three-run first inning and followed with a two-run homer in the third and singled and scored on a balk in the fifth by Luis Severino (0-1), who gave up a career-high 12 hits in his Mets debut.
Ramírez’s first pitch to Hoskins in the seventh sailed well behind the right-handed hitter, who dropped his bat and glared at Ramírez as the reliever raced to pick up the ball, which caromed off the backstop.
“Big leaguers don’t miss by 8 feet,” Hoskins said. “Whether or not it was on purpose or not, that’s not for me to decide. I really don’t care. But this game has had a way of policing itself for many, many, many years, So let’s focus on doing it the right way if we’re going to do that”
Ramírez was ejected by plate umpire Lance Barrett and given a standing ovation by fans.
“There’s a history there and we had an altercation the day before and one goes over his head — albeit, I bet it wasn’t on purpose,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “I didn’t suggest they throw him out of the game. I just said, hey man, we’ve got to take hold of this. I don’t want people getting hurt.”
Hoskins then walked against Jorge López. Ramírez said he was trying to throw a sinker and didn’t mean to brush back Hoskins.
“Rhys is a special dude, man,” Murphy said. “He’s not just a really good baseball player. He’s really committed to playing the game the right way and he’s really committed to leading.”
New York closer Edwin Díaz gave up one hit in the ninth inning in his first big league appearance since Game 3 of the NL Wild Card Series on Oct. 9, 2022. Díaz missed last season after tearing the patellar tendon in his right knee while celebrating a win for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic.
Díaz jogged to the mound to a standing ovation from the crowd of 30,296 as his familiar entrance song, “Narco” by Timmy Trumpet, blasted over the Citi Field loudspeakers.
“Felt really good,” Díaz said. “To see that crowd, it gave me chills. So I’m really happy.”
Murphy improved to 2-0 since replacing Craig Counsell as Milwaukee's manager while the Mets dropped to 0-2 for the first time since 2014. The Brewers have won eight of their last night against New York.
Pinch-hitter Brett Baty had a three-run homer, and Francisco Alvarez and Pete Alonso had solo shots for the Mets, who trailed 7-2 in the eighth.
Hoskins slid hard into McNeil on a potential double-play ball in the eighth inning of the Brewers’ 3-1 win in Friday’s opener. McNeil yelled at Hoskins, who rubbed his eyes as if to call McNeil a crybaby. With Philadelphia on April 24, 2019, Hoskins homered off Mets reliever Jacob Rhame and took a 34-second home run trot, one night after Rhame threw two pitches over his head.
Hoskins was booed each time he went to the plate. His four RBIs were his most since Sept. 23, 2022. He missed last year because of a torn ACL in his left knee.
Alonso’s homer was the first allowed in 34 big league appearances off Abner Uribe, who struck out DJ Stewart and Starling Marte for his second save.
Elvis Peguero (1-0) pitched two hitless innings in relief of DL Hall, who gave up two runs and six hits in four innings in his second career start.
Severino made his Mets debut after eight seasons for the crosstown Yankees and allowed five runs in five innings.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Brewers: RHP Taylor Clarke had surgery to repair a torn right meniscus.
UP NEXT
Mets RHP Tylor Megill opposes Brewers RHP Colin Rea in Sunday’s series finale.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb