Stunning Comeback! Rays Edge Brewers 4-3 in 12 Innings to Force World Series Game 5
I stayed up for all twelve innings. My coffee went cold twice. And when Ben Williamson chopped that bases-loaded single into right field, I actually laughed. Not because it was funny.
Because the Brewers had done everything right for three games and then watched a rookie shortstop's hero moment get erased by a throwing error and four straight singles.
The Brewers world series game 4 result will go down as a 4-3 loss in 12 innings. The series still sits at 3-1 Milwaukee. But for one night, the Rays refused to be swept. Here is how it actually happened.
The Moment Cooper Pratt Thought He Won the Series
Let me start with the swing that should have ended it.
Cooper Pratt, a rookie, stepped up in the top of the 12th against Ian Seymour. He had already collected three hits. He worked a 2-2 count and got a sweeper that caught too much plate. He crushed it to left-center. The Brewers' dugout emptied. Players poured onto the field.
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Pratt finished the night 4-for-5 with two RBIs and that go-ahead homer. For about ten minutes, it looked like Milwaukee would win its first championship in franchise history.
The Brewers have never won a World Series. They lost in 1982. They were trying to close it out for the first time in 44 years.
Then the bottom of the 12th happened.
The Error That Opened the Door
Joey Ortiz, who came in mid-game at third base, fielded a routine grounder from Junior Caminero to lead off the inning. His throw to first bounced in the dirt and skipped past Jake Bauers.
That was the crack. The Rays did not need a home run. They needed singles.
Liam Hicks lined one through the left side. Jonny DeLuca grounded one up the middle to score pinch-runner Cedric Mullins and tie the game.
Chandler Simpson singled to load the bases. And then Ben Williamson, a pinch-hitter, chopped the first pitch he saw over the first baseman's head into shallow right field.
Final score: 4-3. Twelve innings. Four hours and twenty minutes. The Rays were alive.
How the Rays Bullpen Survived Eight Innings of Hell?
Tampa Bay's pitching situation was ugly before the first pitch. They had no starter. They used Nick Martinez, their Game 1 starter, out of the bullpen.
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Griffin Jax gave them four innings of two-run ball, striking out six. Bryan Baker, the closer, pitched two innings. Tyler Wells and Cam Booser handled the 10th and 11th.
The Brewers out-hit the Rays in hard contact. They accounted for 12 of the 13 hardest-hit balls of the night. They had only three runs to show for it.
That is baseball. Sometimes the team that hits the ball hardest loses. Sometimes the team that makes fewer mistakes wins.
What This Means for Game 5 (And the Honest Caveat)?
The Rays are still down 3-1. No team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a World Series. The Brewers still have Jacob Misiorowski lined up for Game 5, and he has been one of the best pitchers in baseball this postseason.
Milwaukee's bullpen is deeper. Their lineup is deeper. Their path to a championship is still wide open. But the Rays bought themselves one more day. And they did it by winning the kind of game that can rattle a team that has been cruising.
Brewers captain Christian Yelich said it plainly after the loss: "If you want to win a championship, you've got to survive some hard things".
He is right. Milwaukee still leads. They still have the better team. But they just watched a rookie's biggest hit get erased by a bad throw and a string of soft singles. That sticks with a club. Game 5 will tell us whether it breaks them or wakes them up.
One quick note for anyone asking "Did the Brewers win the World Series?" No. They have never won it. They won the NL pennant this year by sweeping the Dodgers, but the World Series is still in progress.
Milwaukee leads the Brewers vs Rays game 4 score series 3-1. Game 5 is Wednesday night at Tropicana Field.
