MILWAUKEE – Jackson Chourio tied the game in the eighth with his second homer of the night and pinch-hitter Garrett Mitchell delivered a two-run shot later in the inning to give the Milwaukee Brewers a 5-3 victory over the New York Mets on Wednesday evening tied their NL Wild Card Series.

The teams will play a decisive Game 3 on Thursday night. The Brewers will try to become the first team to win a best-of-three wild-card series after losing the opener since MLB moved to this expanded playoff format in 2022.

Milwaukee trailed 3-2 when Chourio led off the eighth inning by homering to right-center off losing pitcher Phil Maton, making his fourth appearance on the mound in five days. The 20-year-old rookie also opened the bottom of the first inning with a drive to right.

He became the youngest player to hit a leadoff homer in the postseason and the first player in postseason history with a leadoff HR and a game-tying HR in the eighth inning or later in the same game. He is also the second-youngest player to homer twice in a postseason game, behind 19-year-old Andruw Jones for Atlanta in the 1996 World Series opener at Yankee Stadium.

After Blake Perkins singled and William Contreras grounded into a double play, Willy Adames kept the eighth inning alive with a single. Mitchell then sent a curveball on the first pitch just over the right-center wall, a 370-foot shot that sent the American Family Field crowd into a frenzy.

“I was just looking for something outrageous and I recognized curveball early on,” Mitchell told ESPN.

“I’ve been getting ready (to bat) since about the fourth inning, so I was just trying to stay active and ready to go.”

Devin Williams retired the side in the ninth to earn the save. Joe Ross got the win after throwing 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.

The Mets had taken the lead in the second inning after a Brewers pitcher made another crucial error around first base.

With the score tied at 1-all, the Mets were one out and no one on in the second when Starling Marte hit a routine grounder to first baseman Rhys Hoskins, whose throw bounced off Frankie Montas’ glove as the right-hander went to cover the bag. .

After Montas failed to catch Hoskins’ throw, he failed to retire the next two Mets batters. Tyrone Taylor and Francisco Alvarez hit back-to-back singles, with the latter hitting Marte home. Francisco Lindor followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Taylor.

It was the second straight night the Mets rallied after a Brewers pitcher botched a play at first base. New York trailed 4-3 with two outs in the fifth inning of their 8-4 victory Tuesday when Joel Payamps reached first base late on a grounder to Hoskins, allowing Jose Iglesias to slide safely headfirst and make a could cause a five-point outburst.

Milwaukee got one run back in the fifth when Brice Turang hit a leadoff double and scored on Perkins’ sacrifice fly.

This report uses information from ESPN Research, ESPN’s Jesse Rogers and The Associated Press.