MILWAUKEE — Pete Alonso picked just the right moment to awaken, resurrecting the Mets season along with him.
With his team on the verge of extinction from the postseason Thursday night, Alonso’s potential final at-bat in a Mets uniform turned into his biggest moment yet.
Alonso hit a three-run homer in the ninth inning against stud closer Devin Williams and the Mets kept going for a 4-2 victory over the Brewers in Game 3 of the NL Wild Card Series at American Family Field.
The Mets, who won their first postseason series since 2015, got the final three outs from David Peterson and advanced to face the Phillies in the NLDS beginning on Saturday in Philadelphia.
Held to two hits over the first eight innings, the Mets erupted in the ninth against Williams.
Francisco Lindor walked and Brandon Nimmo singled with one out before Alonso, who hadn’t homered since Sept. 23, cleared the right-field fence.
The Mets got an insurance run on Starling Marte’s RBI single after Jesse Winker was plunked for the second time in the game.
Mets starting pitcher Jose Quintana was brilliant over six innings.
But the Mets didn’t bother scoring for him and Jose Butto’s margin for error as he entered for the seventh inning was nil.
Jake Bauers snapped a scoreless deadlock with a pinch-hit homer on a full-count changeup leading off the inning.
Sal Frelick hit the next pitch into the right-field seats and the Mets were officially in trouble. Edwin Diaz ended up getting five outs without surrendering a run, allowing the Mets room to recover.
In the ninth, Peterson allowed a leadoff single to Frelick before striking out Joey Ortiz and getting Brice Turang to hit into a game-ending double play.
Peterson’s relief appearance makes it likely that Tylor Megill will start Game 1 of the NLDS on Saturday.
Quintana stifled the Brewers with six shutout innings in which he allowed four hits and one walk with five strikeouts.
The left-hander departed after 94 pitches in a scoreless game.
The Mets’ best chance early came in the third, when Lindor singled for his second hit of the game and advanced on a wild pitch before Mark Vientos was retired for the final out.
Lindor had doubled leading off the game, but was left stranded.
It took until the fourth inning for either team to get a base runner as far as third base: Willy Adames singled leading off the inning, stole second and advanced on a grounder that became the second out.
But Quintana retired Frelick on a slow chopper back to the mound for the final out.
Winker got plunked leading off the fifth, but Marte and Tyrone Taylor each took a called third strike from Tobias Myers before Francisco Alvarez was retired.
Myers was removed after pitching five scoreless innings in which he allowed two hits and struck out five with a hit batter.
Quintana walked Jackson Chourio with two outs in the fifth.
Chourio stole second before Quintana retired Blake Perkins on the ninth pitch of the at-bat.
Trevor Megill entered for the sixth and went 1-2-3 against the top of the Mets batting order.