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Manny Pina makes happy Mother's Day call after Milwaukee Brewers complete sweep of NY Mets

By Andrew Wagner, The Sports Xchange
Manny Pina gestures to the crowd after his three-run homer in the eighth inning lifted the Brewers past the Mets on Sunday. Photo by Milwaukee Brewers/Twitter
Manny Pina gestures to the crowd after his three-run homer in the eighth inning lifted the Brewers past the Mets on Sunday. Photo by Milwaukee Brewers/Twitter

MILWAUKEE -- A little more than seven weeks ago, Manny Pina's mother, Minda, cried when he called to tell her that he'd made an Opening Day roster for the first time in his career.

His call to wish her a happy Mother's Day was almost as emotional after Pina belted a three-run home run in the eighth inning to cap off an unlikely comeback for the Milwaukee Brewers, who finished off a three-game sweep of the New York Mets with an 11-9 victory on Sunday afternoon at Miller Park.

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"She watched the game today in Venezuela," Pina said. "She told me right now she was screaming, so happy. Yeah the first time I told my mom I made the team, she started crying (because) when I was young it was just me and her together ... so now I'm here, (we're) so happy."

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Winners in six of their last seven contests, the Brewers went 5-1 on their six-game homestand and moved to four games above .500 for the first time since late in the 2014 season.

"It was a great homestand with a bunch of good games," Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said. "The offense was incredible. Corey Knebel was incredible. We were playing two good teams and had a good homestand. It's encouraging."

The Brewers trailed 7-1 after five innings but started chipping away at the deficit in the sixth with a two-run homer from Keon Broxton and a two-run shot in the seventh from Jonathan Villar.

New York's T.J. Rivera made it a 9-6 game with an RBI triple off Neftali Feliz (1-4) in the eighth but Orlando Arcia led off the bottom of the frame with a walk against Fernando Salas.

Domingo Santana flew out and Salas gave way to Josh Edgin, who gave up a single to Villar and walked Eric Thames before Addison Reed (0-2) took over.

Hernan Perez singled to right, driving in a pair and after Reed struck out Jesus Aguilar, Pina worked the count full and then connected on a slider for his second homer of the season, putting the Brewers on top for the first time all day.

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"When I hit that ball, I knew that ball was gone," Pina said. "That was amazing."

Knebel worked a perfect ninth to earn his first save of the season.

"I don't know if I've seen anything like that," Counsell said. "We just kind of chipped away. They answered back but the eighth inning, that was absolutely incredible. Great at-bats by a whole bunch of guys."

Milwaukee's rally spoiled what had been a strong effort from Mets starter Jacob deGrom, who struck out seven while allowing four runs on eight hits and a walk over six innings of work.

"Jake pitched well, had a tough fifth," New York manager Terry Collins said. "I thought he burned himself out getting out of the fifth. Sixth inning, some balls hit pretty good in the sixth.

The Mets' offense had its way with Brewers starter Wily Peralta.

Peralta gave up seven runs -- six earned -- on seven hits and a walk and only went 4 1/3 innings for the second consecutive start.

"I threw terrible today but I'm happy with the way we played," Peralta said. "Sometimes those games are going to be like that, and the only thing that matters is we get a win."

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He gave up two hits to Michael Conforto who finished a single shy of the cycle and drove in three runs on the day -- one on a solo home run in the first and two more on a fifth-inning double that brought Peralta's day to an end.

NOTES: The Brewers moved to four games over .500 for the first time since Sept. 24 of that same season. ... Despite dropping three straight coming into Sunday, the Mets had won eight of their last 14 contests. ... Brewers 3B Travis Shaw went 1-for-3 with an RBI but left the game after the sixth inning with a right index finger injury. ... OF Jay Bruce got the day off Sunday, his first since April 15 and just his second of the season. ... The Mets haven't been swept by the Brewers since Aug. 19-20, 2011 and haven't been swept in Milwaukee since the 2001 season. ... Brewers OF Keon Broxton hit his fourth home run of the season Sunday, extending his hitting streak to a career-high six games. ... Brewers 3B Travis Shaw left the game after the sixth inning is day-to-day after taking a ground ball to his right index finger.

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