Mets' Phil Maton on blown save against Brewers in Game 2: 'It's extremely frustrating'

Phil Maton has been one of the Mets' most reliable relievers this season, but the right-hander wasn't in the team's Game 2 loss to the Brewers on Wednesday night.

While the Mets defended a slim 3-2 lead in the eighth, Manager said Carlos Mendoza had his bullpen perfectly set up to win the Wild Card Series. He had Reed Garrett in the sixth, Ryne Stanek in the seventh and the plan was to use Maton for the eighth and Edwin Diaz to close it.

Of course, plans don't always come to fruition as a 20-year phenomenon Jackson Chourio brought Maton deep, took the lead in the eighth and tied the game at 3-3. It was Chourio's second solo shot of the game.

“Young, talented hitter who can always knock off good fastballs,” Maton said of Chourio after the game. “Overall happy with my choice of pitch. The execution is better than I would have liked. Taking advantage of trying to get to the four-seamer after the sinker and just a good bit of hitting.”

Maton continued to talk Wednesday about how the execution of his pitches was more important to him than pitch selection, even in the at-bat where he allowed a two-run home run Garrett Mitchell on a hanging curveball that gave the Brewers the lead for good.

“Too much plate with the curveball, but we were happy to get ahead on the first pitch curve to get ahead,” Maton explained of the Mitchell hitter. “Just one of those things where he gets a good swing is, nine times out of 10, I get a fly ball to center field for a free out. He put a good swing on it and you put your cap on.”

Mendoza said he liked the duel between Chourio and Maton so much that when asked if he was thinking about leaving Stanek – who threw a perfect seventh – as the starter for the eighth, he said he wasn't I liked it.

The Mets captain also said that while Diaz was available, they only wanted to get three outs from him. Understandable, considering the workload the Mets closer endured on Monday in Atlanta.

But the same could be said of Maton. The 31-year-old has played in four of the Mets' last five games, including Wednesday, so Maton may be suffering from fatigue. The Kentucky native brushed that off, saying, “Playoff baseball, adrenaline flowing.” “Everything feels good” and that he'll be available for Thursday's winner-take-all matchup.

In 31 appearances since being acquired by the Rays in July, Maton has been great. He posted an ERA of 2.51 and a WHIP of 0.837. During that time, he allowed just one home run in Flushing.

“It’s extremely frustrating,” Maton said of his outing. “I would have preferred to give it up in the regular season game. I just looked at the pitches on the iPad and overall I was pretty happy with my pitch selection. My execution, a little too much plate with some of these. It's one of those situations where they just beat me today and it's easier to rest on it. Ultimately, we have to take care of and respond to tomorrow’s business.”

The Mets will look to avoid elimination and get into the NLDS when they face the Brewers on Thursday night with Maton and the rest of the bullpen ready to go.