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 Brewersr at an American Family Field that was silenced Tuesday.
“There were great at-bats up and down,” Winker said. “Everyone did their part.”
“Any time you come through, especially with the team, it’s why I’m here,” Martinez said. “I want to win.”
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 his 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 unhappy words with Brewers shortstop Willy Adames, a subject Winker did not want to talk about.
He was happier to talk about his DH complement.
“J.D’s huge, man,” Winker said of Martinez, who replaced him in the fifth. “He helped me out a lot before this game — he’s helped me out a ton since I’ve been here.”
Martinez’s hitting tips help, but so do his hits. In the fifth, the Mets were rolling, already having scored three runs.
They loaded the bases with two outs against lefty Aaron Ashby when Mendoza replaced Winker with the righty Martinez, who 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.
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“My career’s getting to the back end of it, and there’s not too many opportunities that you have like this anymore,” Martinez said after his 14th regular season in the majors. “I just want to come through for the team and do whatever I can to help us win every night.”
