New York Mets vs Milwaukee Brewers

1st inning — Brewers stranded two runners in scoring position when William Contreras popped out. On the first pitch of the bottom half, Mets right-hander Dustin May took a 106 mph line drive off the bat of A.J. Ewing directly off his right shoulder blade. After multiple attempts to stretch it out, May exited with a right scapula contusion. X-rays were negative.

2nd inning — The Brewers pounced on reliever Robert Stock with six consecutive singles — Luis Lara, Andrew Vaughn, David Hamilton, Cooper Pratt, Sal Frelick and Garrett Mitchell — to plate four runs. It was the first time Milwaukee strung together six straight singles in an inning since June 30, 1998. Frelick's two-run single made it 4-0.

4th inning — Turang crushed a 1-2 sweeper 408 feet to right-centre for his 17th homer of the season, scoring Pratt and Mitchell to extend the lead to 7-0. The homer was Turang's first in August; he entered the night with a .488 OPS for the month.

4th inning — The Mets got on the board when Brett Baty walked and Marcus Semien and Francisco Alvarez strung together two-out singles off Gasser, cutting the lead to 7-1.

6th inning — Frelick doubled, Turang walked and Christian Yelich delivered an RBI single off reliever Chayce McDermott to make it 8-1.

May's departure after one pitch forced the Mets into a bullpen game — and Robert Stock was not up to the task. Stock (0-3) was charged with seven runs on 10 hits in four innings (15.75 ERA). Meanwhile, Brewers lefty Robert Gasser, originally slated to start Sunday, entered cold from the bullpen and delivered the most important outing of his season: 5.1 innings, one run, six strikeouts, zero walks issued before the fourth. His four-seam fastball averaged 93.9 mph — up a tick from his season norm — and produced seven whiffs on 17 swings.

Sal Frelick (MIL) — 3-for-5, 2 RBI, 2B, R. Playing his first game since July 17 after an IL stint, Frelick immediately sparked the lineup with a two-run single in the second.

Brice Turang (MIL) — 1-for-3, HR (17), 3 RBI, 2 BB. Ended an August-long power drought with a 104.9 mph, 408-foot blast that broke the game open.

Robert Gasser (MIL) — W (4-5), 5.1 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 82 pitches. Saved a thin Brewers bullpen that had used Trevor Megill and Antonio Senzatela for two innings each in recent days.

Robert Stock (NYM) — L (0-3), 4.0 IP, 10 H, 7 ER, 0 BB, 2 K. Could not survive the early crater left by May's injury.

Player of the Match: Robert Gasser (MIL) — The lefty's relief outing was the backbone of Milwaukee's win, covering critical innings after the emergency May exit.

| Inning | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | | MIL | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 13 | 0 | | NYM | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 0 |

Milwaukee out-hit the Mets 13-9 but the damage was concentrated: all eight runs came in three innings (2nd, 4th, 6th). The Brewers' six-hit, four-run second inning — all singles — was their first six-consecutive-hit inning in nearly three decades. New York stranded nine runners and went 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position. The Brewers' bullpen (Gasser, Grant Anderson, Bryse Wilson) combined for 8.2 innings of one-run ball after the emergency substitution.

The Brewers (82-51) own the best record in MLB and a commanding lead in the NL Central. They clinched their sixth consecutive winning season with the victory. The Mets (60-73) sit fifth in the NL East, 18 games back of the division lead with 29 games to play. Both Bichette (left foot bruise, X-rays negative) and May (scapula contusion) are day-to-day.

• Milwaukee Brewers: @ New York Mets, Aug 27, 6:10 PM ET — RHP Jacob Misiorowski (13-5, 1.68) vs LHP Sean Manaea (4-5, 4.31)
• New York Mets: vs Milwaukee Brewers, Aug 27, 6:10 PM ET — LHP Sean Manaea (4-5, 4.31) vs RHP Jacob Misiorowski (13-5, 1.68)

What looked like a potential disaster for Milwaukee — losing the starter on the first pitch of a 16-games-in-16-days stretch — turned into a textbook emergency-relief victory. Gasser's ability to cover 5.1 innings fundamentally changed the game, while Turang's first August homer gave the bullpen room to breathe. The Brewers are deep enough to absorb a setback like this; the Mets, already thin after the trade deadline sell-off, had no answer once their starter vanished.