By STEVE MEGARGEE AP Sports Writer MILWAUKEE — Pete Alonso was having a rather disappointing evening in what could have been his final game for the New York Mets. Then everything changed with one swing of the bat. The slugger broke out of a prolonged slump by smashing a go-ahead, three-run homer off All-Star closer Devin Williams in the ninth inning and the Mets beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-2, on Thursday night to win their National League Wild Card Series. “It’s just something you practice in the backyard as a kid,” Alonso said. “You go through those scenarios as a little kid: All right, you’re in the playoffs down by a few runs. Words can’t explain. This is just unreal.” With their latest thrilling comeback in the decisive Game 3 against Milwaukee, the Mets advanced in the playoffs for the first time since winning the 2015 NL pennant. They moved on to a best-of-five NL Division Series beginning Saturday in Philadelphia against the NL East champion Phillies. It will be the first postseason meeting between the heated rivals. “What a ride,” Alonso said. “I’m just excited to help keep this team alive.” The slugger became the first major leaguer to hit a go-ahead homer when his team was trailing in the ninth inning or later of a winner-take-all postseason game, according to OptaSTATS. The NL Central champion Brewers, making their sixth playoff appearance in seven years, still haven’t won a postseason series since reaching Game 7 of the 2018 NL Championship Series. This loss will be particularly painful. “I love this team,” Manager Pat Murphy said. “I love them. I’ll never be able to duplicate 2024. It didn’t end the way we wanted to. It ended tragically, actually.” Milwaukee appeared to have the victory in hand after pinch-hitter Jake Bauers and Sal Frelick broke a scoreless tie by opening the seventh inning with back-to-back homers on consecutive pitches from Jose Buttó. Rookie right-hander Tobias Myers and three Brewers relievers combined on a two-hit shutout through the first eight innings. In fact, 12 straight Mets had been retired when they entered the ninth against Williams, a two-time NL Reliever of the Year who had earned the save Wednesday in Milwaukee’s Game 2 victory. But he wasn’t his normal self on this night. “I’m not going to make any excuse,” Williams said. “I didn’t execute the way I needed to. They got the job done and I didn’t.” Francisco Lindor opened the inning by working an eight-pitch walk. Mark Vientos struck out, then Brandon Nimmo singled sharply on an 0-and-2 pitch to put runners at the corners. That brought up Alonso, who has 226 career home runs in six seasons – including a 53-homer season as a rookie in 2019 – but hadn’t delivered an extra-base hit since homering on Sept. 19. “I know Devin has great stuff,” Alonso said. “I’ve seen him pitch a ton. We were teammates in the WBC (World Baseball Classic). He’s a tough AB.” After getting ahead 3-and-1 in the count, Alonso drove an 86 mph changeup to the opposite field over the wall in right. He put his fingers to his mouth in a “chef’s kiss” gesture as he rounded first base and gave New York the lead. “As soon as I hit it I was like, ‘Oh yeah, nobody’s catching that,’” Alonso said. Nimmo said teammates kept telling Alonso he was just one swing from turning things around his slump. Adding to the pressure was the unavoidable fact that Alonso is a pending free agent. When he stepped to the plate in the ninth inning, he knew it might be his final time at bat in a Mets uniform. “And now it’s not because he did what big Pete does,” Nimmo said. “He’s with Mike Piazza as one of the greatest home run hitters in Mets history.” Instead, he sent them on to the next round with the biggest home run of his career. “Pete Alonso was one swing away from people going crazy about him. And that’s what happened,” Lindor said. Williams remained in the game but never regained his footing. Jesse Winker was hit by a pitch with two outs, stole second and scored an insurance run on Starling Marte’s single to right. Winker, a former Brewer who was showered with boos throughout the series, screamed and slammed his helmet to the ground after sliding across the plate. The ninth-inning rally continued New York’s storybook season. The Mets were 22-33 in late May but had the best record in baseball the rest of the regular season. They didn’t clinch a playoff berth until scoring all their runs in the final two innings of an 8-7 comeback victory at rival Atlanta in the opening game of a makeup doubleheader Monday, the day after the regular season was supposed to end. “With what’s transpired this season, it seems only fitting,” Nimmo said. “We seemed down and out. At the beginning of the season, we were written off. Obviously it was compounded in April and May. Then we went on this just unbelievable run of being the best (team) in baseball for the next four months, having the team meeting, pulling ourselves up. “And that’s kind of how this game was. This game, we were down and out for eight innings, and we just said, ‘You know what? We’re just going to keep shooting our shots until the end, and we’re going to see what happens.’” Frelick led off the bottom of the ninth with a single, but Joey Ortiz struck out and Brice Turang hit into a double play to end the series. “It sucks, plain and simple,” said Frelick, whose homer was his first since mid-May. “We got beat and it’s going to be something I think we all can remember as a group, though, going into next year.” Edwin Díaz pitched 1⅔ innings of scoreless relief to earn the win. David Peterson, making his first relief appearance this season, worked the ninth for his first major league save. The game started out as a pitchers’ duel between Myers and New York left-hander Jose Quintana. Myers pitched five shutout innings, while Quintana held the Brewers scoreless through six. Still, it was Alonso’s night. The emotions continued spilling out as the Mets added an insurance run and then shut the door in the bottom of the ninth. “No one knows until they go through it what that struggle is like,” Nimmo said. “When you’re going through the tough times and haven’t had an extra-base hit in a couple of weeks, three weeks, whatever it’s been, you’re just really trying to help the team however you possibly can, but it’s not there right now. Like I’ve told you guys before, you never know when that’s going to happen. This game is really, really hard. It can happen in the blink of an eye, and it can be really hard to get out of. And it’s hard to maintain your confidence during that. “So the weight of emotions on him has probably been building up for this last three weeks of that. And the release of that, when you finally come through – and you come through in a gigantic way for your team – it’s hard to even put that into words. I’m sure that’s why he was so emotional.” The night could have turned out much differently for Alonso. When Milwaukee took its 2-0 lead in the seventh, the Brewers were threatening to add on. They had runners at second and third with two outs when William Contreras hit a foul pop toward the stands that Alonso was unable to catch against the protective netting, giving the All-Star catcher one more chance to drive in some runs. “It’s baseball,” Alonso said. “It’s a game of failure. Sometimes it’s not the case. Especially in these big games, you’ve got to move on to the next pitch and make a positive impact, do the best you can, stay within yourself and execute.” The defensive play didn’t become a factor once Díaz struck out Contreras to end that inning. Alonso then came up with the Mets threatening in the ninth and delivered. As he spoke to reporters during the champagne-soaked celebration in the Mets’ locker room, he was handed a small pumpkin. Alonso called it his “playoff pumpkin” and explained that he and his wife had found it while visiting a farm outside Milwaukee when the Mets were playing here last weekend. “Nothing’s more fall than playoff baseball and pumpkins,” Alonso said. Thanks to his clutch homer, the Mets might keep playing all the way through Halloween. UP NEXT New York went 6-7 against the Phillies during the regular season and finished six games behind them in the division standings. PETE ALONSO!!!!!!!!!!!!! #POSTSEASON pic.twitter.com/LzgpxTWUzN — MLB (@MLB) October 4, 2024 "This is who we are, boys!" Carlos Mendoza and the @Mets are buzzing! #Postseason pic.twitter.com/B0gj3bgrbP — MLB (@MLB) October 4, 2024 Pete Alonso just lived every kid's dream #Postseason pic.twitter.com/vWpXViGSKn — MLB (@MLB) October 4, 2024 OH. MY. GOD. #CLINCHED (MLB x @BudweiserUSA) pic.twitter.com/QSZBC7nDGi — MLB (@MLB) October 4, 2024   "Mets nation, we did it!" It's time to celebrate, @Mets fans! #Postseason pic.twitter.com/LUmW4HUIHG — MLB (@MLB) October 4, 2024