MILWAUKEE — In a combined 97 at-bats in September, J.D. Martinez and Jesse Winker recorded nine hits (.093) with one home run, two doubles, eight RBIs and 25 strikeouts.
The duo has gone 2-for-4 with a triple and four RBIs in October.
The primary Mets designated hitters flipped a switch when the calendar flipped, rising to the moment and driving in half the club’s runs in a series-opening, 8-4 win over the Brewers at an American Family Field that was silenced Tuesday night.
The biggest hole for the Mets the last month of the season was an ironic one: The guys who just about only hit had stopped hitting.
Martinez looked every bit of 37 years of age and fell into an 0-for-36 funk.
Winker, the trade-deadline addition who excelled in August, had grown cold at the wrong time.
The Mets had nowhere else to turn; no other choice but trust track records rather than a poor 30 days.
Manager Carlos Mendoza continually expressed optimism that Martinez, in particular, would find his stroke.
Perhaps it has finally been located.
The lefty-swinging Winker got the start against opposing righty Freddy Peralta and made his presence immediately felt and immediately hated by the home crowd.
In the second inning of a game the Mets trailed by two, Winker — a Brewer in 61 poor games in 2023 — stepped to the plate with two runners on and the crowd booing.
He battled, forced a full count and saw a changeup that got too much of the plate and hammered it into the right-field corner.
He tied the game, went all the way to third both because he wanted a triple and surely because he wanted his dugout to hear him.
He screamed at his celebrating teammates and soon after exchanged seemingly unhappy words with Brewers shortstop Willy Adames.
Winker only received one more at-bat — a fourth-inning groundout in which he was jeered even louder — but passed the baton to his DH complement.
Martinez did not draw the same kind of hisses, but he did help quiet the crowd.
The Mets were rolling, already having scored three runs in the fifth inning.
They loaded the bases with two outs against lefty Aaron Ashby when Mendoza went for the kill.
Halfway through the game, he pulled Winker for Martinez, the righty, in a move that did not look great when Martinez got behind 0-2.
But maybe the most professional hitter in baseball fought back and sent a sixth-pitch curveball through the right side of the infield for two more runs and an 8-4 lead.
The Mets are one win away from the NLDS and might have two more bats than they played with all last month.
