MILWAUKEE — Phil Maton was so good, which made Wednesday so surprising.

With the Mets, the righty had pitched 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 an ERA of 0.83 – two runs in 21 ²/₃ innings – mainly with the Astros.

His reliability was part of the appeal to the Mets, who traded for an October arm that failed in October.

Maton entered a game where the Mets led by one and trailed by two, with two home runs turning into three runs during a 5-3, Game 2 loss to the Brewers at American Family Field.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza chose Maton for the fourth time in five days, a soft and generally effective option.

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 get Diaz — who threw 66 combined pitches Sunday and Monday — for one inning to use. , and Stanek is a fireball.

Mendoza said David Peterson, who pitched Sunday, was not in the game.

Against top of the order and Brewers’ star Jackson Chourio, Mendoza believed Maton was his best option.

“Chourio is a really good fastball hitter, and Stanek, everything is tough,” Mendoza said. “The whole time we were going through the situation, we wanted a Maton-Chourio matchup, but it just didn’t work.”

That didn’t happen. The third pitch Maton threw was a cutter across the plate that Chourio blasted to right for his second home run of the game, tying the game at 3.

“Pretty happy with the field selection,” Maton said. “The performance was more in the box than I would have liked. But just a talented hitter – tip your hat.