Pete Alonso’s clutch blast sends Mets to NLDS in Game 3 wild card thriller

MILWAUKEE — Pete Alonso picked just the right moment to awaken, resurrecting the Mets season along with him.

On the verge of extinction from the postseason Thursday night, Alonso’s potential final at-bat in a Mets uniform instead turned into his biggest moment yet with the organization.

Alonso hit a three-run homer in the ninth inning against stud closer Devin Williams, catapulting the Mets to a 4-2 victory over the Brewers in Game 3 of the NL Wild Card Series at American Family Field.

“I wanted to be in that spot,” said Alonso, who had gone two weeks without an extra-base hit. “I wanted to deliver for my team. I want to contribute in a positive way.”

During the postgame celebration, Alonso displayed the “Playoff Pumpkin,” which he said he picked last weekend during an excursion with his wife, Haley.

“Nothing is more like fall than playoff baseball and pumpkins,” Alonso said.

The Mets, who won their first postseason series since 2015, got the final three outs from David Peterson and advanced to 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 is eligible for free agency after the season, cleared the right-field fence.

Alonso’s homer was his first since Sept. 19.

“I expected something good to happen in that ninth inning,” Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns said. “There was no way this season was going to end without something happening in that ninth inning.”

Team owner Steve Cohen said he was watching in the Mets clubhouse as they came to bat in the ninth inning, after leaving his seat.

He said he began bouncing with excitement as Alonso’s ball cleared the fence.

“I don’t think a Hollywood scriptwriter could have written a better ending,” Cohen said.

The Mets got an insurance run in the ninth on Starling Marte’s RBI single after Jesse Winker was plunked for the second time in the game.

“We continue to believe,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “As a team we’ve been punched and knocked down and continue to find ways to get back up.”

It was the second time in four days the Mets received a ninth-inning home run to help them advance.

On Monday, Francisco Lindor hit a two-run blast in Atlanta that put the Mets ahead in an 8-7 victory that clinched a wild-card berth.

“It’s just really special to move on the way we have,” Alonso said.

Jose Quintana was brilliant over six innings on this night, 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.

“This is who Quintana is,” Mendoza said. “He is a guy who has been in this game for a long time. There is a reason he is poised. He’s calm. He knows the situation. He knew what we were facing and that is an elite pitching staff right there.”

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.