MILWAUKEE — Phil Maton has been so good, which made Wednesday so surprising.
With the Mets, the righty had pitched to a 2.51 ERA since coming from the Rays in a July trade.
In the postseason, the eighth-year big leaguer had pitched to just a 0.83 ERA — two runs in 21 ²/₃ innings — predominantly with the Astros.
His dependability was part of the attraction for the Mets, who traded for an October arm that gave out in October.
Maton entered a game the Mets led by one and left trailing by two, with two homers turning into three runs during a 5-3, Game 2 loss to the Brewers at American Family Field.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza opted for Maton, a soft-tossing and typically effective option, for a fourth time in five days.
He could have tried for Edwin Diaz or Ryne Stanek, who was effective in the seventh inning, against the top of the Brewers’ lineup, but he believed he could only use Diaz — who threw 66 combined pitches spanning Sunday and Monday — for one inning, and Stanek is a fireballer.
Mendoza said David Peterson, who pitched Sunday, was not in play.
Against the top of the order and Brewers’ leadoff star Jackson Chourio, Mendoza believed Maton was his best option.
“Chourio is a really good fastball hitter, and Stanek, everything is hard,” Mendoza said. “The whole time we were going through the situation, we wanted a Maton-Chourio matchup and it just didn’t work.”
It did not. The third pitch Maton threw was a cutter over the plate that Chourio blasted to right for his second home run of the game, this one tying the game at 3-all.
“Pretty happy with the pitch selection,” Maton said. “Execution was more in the box than I would have liked. But just a talented hitter — tip your hat.”
Garrett Mitchell is talented, too. After a two-out single from Willy Adames, Mitchell smacked a first-pitch curveball from Maton that cleared the wall in right-center to give the Brewers a lead they would hold in the ninth.
Maton had no second thoughts about the pitch, apart from it getting too much plate.
“Nine times out of 10 I feel like I get a fly ball to center field for a free out [on that pitch],” Maton said. “Put a good swing on it.”
Maton was throwing harder than usual. If his arm was tired, the evidence did not show up metrically.
He said physically he felt “great.”
“It’s playoff baseball, adrenaline’s flowing,” said Maton, a fact that made his outing all the more disappointing.