MILWAUKEE – The Mets still have everything on the line in the regular season and the Brewers have nothing, but you wouldn’t have known that going into Friday’s game.

About the most heated the Mets got was an irate Carlos Mendoza barking at plate umpire Ramon De Jesus before and after the manager was ejected for protesting a called third strike on Francisco Alvarez in the fourth inning.

For all intents and purposes, the Mets were flat for a second straight game, and that was even before Alvarez clutched his lower back after sliding into third base in the seventh inning and had to leave.

The catcher, who was diagnosed with back spasms, needed the help of teammates to walk from the dugout to the clubhouse.

A total disaster of a night for the Mets ended with an 8-4 loss at American Family Field, leaving them tied with Atlanta and Arizona for the second NL wild card.

Two of the three teams earn a wild card spot.

The Padres earned the top wild-card seed on Friday.

Francisco Lindor returned to the lineup after missing the previous eight games due to lower back tightness and reached base three times – going 2-for-4 with a walk – but the shortstop seemed unstable at times and made a incorrect throw that led to an unearned error. walk.

The Brewers, seeded at No. 3 for the postseason, weren’t content with a passive approach and went 6-for-6 in stolen base attempts.

Five came with Alvarez behind the plate and another with Luis Torrens as catcher.

“They beat us today,” Lindor said. “They scored, ran the bases better than us and they hit with runners in scoring position.”

In his worst start of the second half, Sean Manaea lasted just 3 ²/₃ innings, giving up six runs, one unearned, on seven hits and two walks with one strikeout.

The start was his shortest since August 10 in Seattle and the five earned runs allowed were his most since July 19 in Miami.

“It sucks,” Manaea said. “We are fighting for our lives here and to do that it doesn’t feel good, but we are resilient.”

Mets foe Rhys Hoskins scored a grand slam in the first inning to give the Brewers a 4-0 lead. Manaea dug its own hole by walking William Contreras and Willy Adames with two outs, loading the bases before Hoskins connected for his fifth career grand slam and third this season.

The inning started with Brice Turang’s line drive off a jumping Lindor glove for a single.

Turang stole second base and advanced to third base on a wild pitch.

Lindor’s throwing error on Blake Perkins’ grounder in the second led to the Brewers scoring an unearned run on Turang’s double.

The Mets cut their deficit to 5-2 after Mark Vientos’ two-run homer in the third against Frankie Montas.

Alvarez led off the inning with a walk before Vientos, with one out, hit a towering drive that cleared the center field fence for his 27th home run of the season and second in as many games.

In the fourth, Jesse Winker was sacked with two outs and JD Martinez walked before Alvarez took a called third strike on a full-count pitch that appeared to be below the strike zone.

Alvarez yelled at plate umpire De Jesus before Mendoza entered the scene to protect his player and was ejected.

Manaea’s night ended after he gave up three straight hits in the fourth.

Turang singled and Garrett Mitchell’s double put runners on second and third before Jackson Chourio knocked out an infield grounder for an RBI single that sank the Mets into a 6-2 hole.

“As the game went on, there was no life on (Manaea’s) fastball at the top today,” Mendoza said.

Turang walked with two outs against Danny Young in the sixth and came in second for his 50th stolen base of the season.

Turang advanced to third base on a passed ball and scored on a wild pitch.

After the Mets scored twice in the eighth, Gary Sanchez launched a solo homer against Alex Young in the bottom half of the inning to give the Brewers an 8-4 lead.

“I was really happy with (our) at-bats and they kept fighting,” Mendoza said. “We have not given up.”