MILWAUKEE — Jackson Chourio tied the game in the eighth with his second homer of the night and Garrett Mitchell delivered a two-run shot later in the inning to give the Milwaukee Brewers a 5-3 win over the New York Mets on Wednesday their NL was balanced Wildcard 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.

“We talk about it every night: ‘Win tonight. Do whatever it takes,'” Mitchell said. “And that’s what we did.”

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 against Sean Manaea, becoming the youngest player to hit a leadoff home run in the postseason.

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

“In that situation, it’s like the moment is telling you to speed up, try to do more, swing for the fences, whatever you’re thinking,” Mitchell said. “For me, it was like just attacking in the zone. Be yourself, be relaxed and pass it on to the next guy. That was my mentality. I’m not trying to hit a home run there.”

He did it anyway, connecting with a curveball on the first pitch.

“Too much plate,” Maton said. “Happy with the first pitch curveball to get ahead. It was just one of those things where he put a good swing on it. Nine times out of 10 I feel like I’m going to get a flyball to center field for an out.” He put a good spin on it.”

New York manager Carlos Mendoza said after the game that closer Edwin Díaz was available, but the Mets did not want to use him for more than an inning.

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.

Chourio is 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. The rookie has shown no signs of postseason pressure as he went four for eight in two games.

Now he’s taken the Brewers one win since their first postseason series win since 2018.

“It was just an incredible year,” Chourio said through a translator. “There’s not much more to say than that. It’s been an incredible year for everyone, for all the guys in that clubhouse. I think we’ve seen the fruits of that.”

The Mets took 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.

“I feel like that started everything,” Montas said of his mistake. “If we had achieved that, there would be no one on base. That is something that absolutely cannot happen. In the postseason you have to get your zeros no matter what.”

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. Then the Brewers pulled off the dramatic eighth-inning rally that tied the series.

Now both teams face their season on Thursday.

“Obviously, losing isn’t fun, but we’ve been responding to adversity all year,” Mets first baseman Pete Alonso said. “I’m really looking forward to this challenge tomorrow. I know they are just as excited. This is what the play-offs are all about.”

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Rookie RHP Tobias Myers (9-6, 3.00 ERA) will start for the Brewers in Game 3. The Mets will go with LHP Jose Quintana (10-10, 3.75).