MILWAUKEE — Sean Manaea was not dominant. But he was better.
Manaea was better than in his last start, also against the Brewers. He was significantly better than his first three career playoff starts.
He was better than opposing starter Frankie Montas, which seemed good enough until the Brewers got back into the game against Phil Maton in the eighth.
Manaea was solid on Wednesday, which was encouraging but ultimately not enough as the Mets fell 5-3 in Game 2 to the Brewers at an American Family Field that only blew up once against Manaea.
Manaea’s third pitch of the game was an 0-2 sinker up the middle that 20-year-old phenom Jackson Chourio drilled into the right field seats.
The Brewers would only score one more time against Manaea, who bounced back from at-bats, from a miss, and from a history of misses in the postseason.
The left-hander was en route to his first playoff victory, with the Mets leading 3-2, after allowing two runs on six hits with four strikeouts in five innings.
Manaea was at his best with runners on base and got out of a few jams, which was the kind of rebound he sorely needed.
In his most recent round, Manaea — whose arm slot had dropped, causing his numbers to skyrocket — was bullied by the Brewers. He allowed six runs in 3 ²/₃ innings, including a grand slam by Rhys Hoskins in the first inning that seemed to end the game.
In his last playoff outings, Manaea has been even worse. He had pitched three times in the postseason, twice with Oakland and once with the Padres, and came away with a 15.26 ERA.
A day earlier, Manaea said he simply wanted to view his exit as “just another match.” He didn’t throw like that, his velocity reflecting the magnitude of the game.
A sinker that averaged 92.3 mph this season reached 93.9 mph. His sweeper went from 77.7 mph to 79 mph. He was excited, which translated into a pretty strong start.
After Chourio’s home run, Manaea led a strong Brewers lineup.
He wasn’t hit again until the fifth, when Brice Turang sent a helicopter down the third-base line that became a double. A groundout moved Turang to third before Blake Perkins scored with a sac fly.
That would be it for Manaea, who gave way to a solid bullpen until Maton collapsed in the eighth.
Maton gave up a solo shot to Chourio to tie the game, then a two-run shot to pinch hitter Garrett Mitchell that provided the final margin.
