With the Mets falling to the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 2 of their Wild Card series on Wednesday night, the team will turn to veteran left-hander Jose Quintana on Thursday in the win-or-go-home Game 3.
For Quintana, it’ll be the 35-year-old’s fifth career postseason start and first since 2022 when he was with the St. Louis Cardinals. He spoke to reporters after the Game 2 loss and said he’s grateful for the chance to start and is ready for the challenge.
“I’m really excited,” Quintana said. “I think it’s a privilege to get this opportunity to pitch in the postseason one more time. After this loss, it’s really tough for us, but we keep our heads up and tomorrow we’ll be back strong.”
He added: “We need to win every play. In the postseason, small things mean a lot… Tomorrow, we get back on track.”
Quintana said he hasn’t talked with manager Carlos Mendoza about how deep he can expect to pitch in Game 3, but is prepared to do whatever is best for the team to win. Mendoza had said prior to Game 2 that LHP David Peterson was available in relief, but he did not end up pitching. It’s unclear if he would potentially be an option for Game 3.
“Right now it’s the most I can go,” Quintana said. “But honestly, pitch by pitch, play by play, and really focus on the first inning, and we keep it rolling after that. Like I said, get scoreless innings, win every play, at the end of the day that gives us a chance to win the game.”
Quintana went 3-1 with a 0.72 ERA across four starts in September, allowing just two runs to the Brewers in his final outing of the regular season. He was asked what he could do to carry that momentum, and said he plans to control the game.
“Keep doing the same, never change my approach, keep controlling the ball in the same way I’ve been doing,” Quintana said. “It’s a really important game for us tomorrow, it means a lot. Just go out there and play ball the right way.”
New York has battled adversity all season long, from their 0-5 start to the season to numerous injuries. With the season riding on Thursday’s outcome, Quintana is confident the Mets can continue to do all they can and get the victory.
“We’ve been in tough situations this year, probably like games tomorrow, I think we need to be focusing and do the small things,” Quintana said. “Control what we can control. Just go out there and do our best. If we do really good things out there, pitching control, scoreless inning, if the offense will be there, we’re gonna get that result at the end.”
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