With the Milwaukee Brewers three outs away from completing one of the most dominant postseason runs in MLB history to win their first World Series, the Tampa Bay Rays rallied in the 12th inning of Game 4 on Tuesday night to steal a 4–3 victory and keep their own dreams of a first title alive.
After Brewers shortstop Cooper Pratt launched a solo home run in the top of the 12th to give Milwaukee a 3–2 lead, five consecutive Rays reached base with their season on the line in the bottom half of the frame to steal a win and extend their season.
Junior Caminero got the rally started by reaching on a throwing error from Brewers third baseman Joey Ortiz. After Liam Hicks singled to get Caminero to third, Jonny DeLuca ripped a cutter from Brewers reliever Shane Drohan up the middle to score pinch runner Cedric Mullins and tie the game.
Chandler Simpson followed with another single to load the bases before pinch-hitter Ben Williamson ripped the walk-off hit into right field, securing the win and stunning the Brewers.
The Brewers nearly became the first team in MLB history to sweep both the league championship series and the World Series since the former moved to a best-of-seven format in 1985. Instead, they lost for the first time since Oct. 6, an NLDS Game 3 loss to the Padres, snapping an eight-game winning streak. Their only two defeats in the playoffs have both been by one run.
The Rays twice gained an early lead off of Brewers starter Dustin May, who allowed two runs in three innings, but Milwaukee quickly fought back both times against his counterpart Griffin Jax.
Pratt, whose four hits matched the total of the rest of his teammates, hooked an RBI double down the line to score Sal Frelick and tie the score at one in the fourth inning. That woke up the horde of Brewers fans that had trekked down to Tampa and had been largely quiet to that point.
Then in the fifth, David Hamilton atoned for a run-scoring throwing error by turning on a 93-mph fastball just above the zone on an 0–2 count, sending it 391 feet into the rows beyond right field to tie up the game at 2–2.
That all led up to the dramatics of the 12th inning.
Milwaukee’s bullpen leading up to Drohan was excellent once again as JoJo Romero, Abner Uribe, DL Hall, Trevor MeGill, Aaron Ashby and Antonio Senzatela combined for eight scoreless innings with just two hits and one walk allowed. Ashby hurled 2 1/3 scoreless innings, setting a record with 18 consecutive scoreless postseason frames in the process, breaking former Cleveland reliever Andrew Miller’s record of 16 innings from 2016.
Tampa Bay’s bullpen was up to the task in matching them, however, as Kevin Kelly, Game 1 starter Nick Martinez, Bryan Baker, Taylor Wells and Cam Booser similarly combined for seven scoreless innings with two hits and a walk allowed before Ian Seymour gave up Pratt’s home run in the 12th. Seymour did settle down after that, keeping the deficit at one run to allow for the dramatics of the bottom half of the inning.
Milwaukee was the 26th team in World Series history to take a 3–0 lead in the series, and now the Rays are only the fifth team facing such a deficit to win Game 4. No team has forced a Game 6, yet alone a Game 7. But it’s hard to think of a more rousing way to complete such a comeback.
Add us as a preferred source on Google
