Former Brewer Winker 'fired up,' exchanges words with Adames

MILWAUKEE -- To correct a popular theory, Jesse Winker did not, in fact, shout at Willy Adames as he rounded the bases on his two-run triple.

If Winker’s mouth moved, he said, it was because he was chewing gum. Adames corroborated the fact that Winker didn’t say anything until he slid into third base in the second inning of the Mets’ 8-4 win over the Brewers on Tuesday in National League Wild Card Series Game 1.

But once Winker arrived there, he and Adames certainly began chirping at each other.

“I don’t know what was going through his head, but he just started saying some stuff and I said something back,” Adames said. “I don’t know. I think that’s the kind of player he is. ... I guess that’s part of his personality. It was just a little bit of a surprise to me, but we don’t back off.”

Said Winker: “I don’t really want to speak on it. I just want to focus on the game tomorrow.”

If Winker is in the lineup for Game 2, Brewers fans will almost certainly be focused on him. His history with the franchise dates to Dec. 2, 2022, when the Brewers acquired him in a deal with the Mariners. In Milwaukee, Winker struggled through a down year in 2023, posting a career-worst .199/.320/.247 slash line in 61 games and missing almost the entire second half of the season due to a back injury.

When the Brewers selected Winker for the postseason roster over popular teammate Garrett Mitchell, fans were unhappy enough with the decision to boo Winker following an NL Wild Card Series Game 1 strikeout vs. the D-backs, then again as he came to the plate for a pinch-hit appearance in Game 2. Once Winker grounded out, fans at American Family Field booed him a third time.

The saga continued this summer, when Winker -- then a member of the Nationals -- doubled and homered off Freddy Peralta in a game that also saw Brewers star Christian Yelich hit by a pitch in the late innings. Upon returning to Milwaukee again with the Mets last weekend, Winker took a Frankie Montas fastball off his hip with two outs and the bases empty.

Given a chance to get even in Game 1 on Tuesday, Winker let his bat do the talking. Then he let his talking do the talking.

“You’re fired up,” he said. “It’s what you play the game for, to help a team win a game in the playoffs. It’s so much bigger than yourself. It’s bigger than all of us. There’s a ton of emotions for sure.”

Asked about fans’ reaction to him, Winker replied: “I don’t care.”

In the end, Winker’s two-run triple was one of several key hits for the Mets, vindicating manager Carlos Mendoza’s decision to put him in the lineup despite multiple reasons not to -- a recent bout of back soreness, for one, and an alternative in J.D. Martinez who has been warming at the plate. Martinez pinch-hit for Winker later in the game and recorded a two-run single, which will make Mendoza’s DH decision on Wednesday an intriguing one.

The only certainty is that if Winker is in there, he’s likely to hear it again from the crowd.