Milwaukee was three outs from its first championship when the bottom of the 12th unraveled — an error, four straight singles and a walk-off that kept Tampa Bay’s season alive.
The champagne was on ice and the plastic was being unrolled. Instead, the Tampa Bay Rays are still playing baseball. Pinch hitter Ben Williamson bounced a walk-off single into right field in the 12th inning as Tampa Bay staved off elimination with a 4-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 4 of the World Series on Tuesday night at Tropicana Field, per Reuters. Milwaukee still leads the best-of-seven series 3-1, and Game 5 is Wednesday night in St. Petersburg.
Three outs from a title
Milwaukee had one foot in the history books. Rookie Cooper Pratt capped a four-hit night by leading off the top of the 12th with a home run off Ian Seymour, depositing a 2-2 sweeper over the wall in left-center to give the Brewers a 3-2 lead, per Reuters. Pratt also had an RBI double in the fourth that scored Sal Frelick and tied the game 1-1. Three outs separated the Brewers from the first championship in franchise history, per the New York Post.
The bottom of the 12th turned on a defensive play Milwaukee did not make. Junior Caminero reached on a throwing error by third baseman Joey Ortiz, chasing Antonio Senzatela from the game, per Reuters. Reliever Shane Drohan never recorded an out: Liam Hicks singled to put runners on the corners, Jonny DeLuca singled up the middle to score pinch runner Cedric Mullins and tie the game 3-3, and Chandler Simpson singled to load the bases, per Reuters. Williamson followed with the single to right that scored pinch runner Nick Fortes and ended it. Drohan was charged with one run on four hits without retiring a batter, per Reuters. It was only the fourth game in World Series history in which a team staved off elimination with an extra-inning victory, per USA Today.
A night of almosts
The finish overshadowed a game full of turning points. Simpson opened the scoring in the second with an RBI double that brought DeLuca home, and later made a leaping catch at the wall in the ninth, per Reuters. Tampa Bay went up 2-1 in the fourth when a throwing error by Milwaukee third baseman David Hamilton let Caminero score from second, per Reuters. Hamilton atoned an inning later, homering to lead off the fifth on an 0-2 fastball from Griffin Jax to tie the game 2-2, per Reuters.
Jackson Chourio recorded two more hits for Milwaukee, boosting his total to 10 hits in the first four games of a World Series — the only other player to accomplish that feat was Babe Ruth in 1928, per Reuters.
Tampa Bay also finished the night holding its breath over Caminero, who came out of his slide to third base on Hicks’ 12th-inning single visibly limping and in obvious pain before being replaced by Mullins, per USA Today. Rays manager Kevin Cash was having none of the doubt afterward: “He’ll play tomorrow with one leg. I’ll make sure of it,” Cash said, per USA Today.
Game 4 starter Griffin Jax summed up the Rays’ three nights of self-inflicted damage. “There’s no rewriting the script. No changes in who we are,” Jax said, per USA Today. This time, they rewrote the script.
The 247 Take — Milwaukee did almost everything a champion does: a rookie with four hits and a go-ahead homer in the 12th, and a 22-year-old matching Babe Ruth. Then one routine throw sailed, and the whole night flipped. The Brewers are still in command at 3-1, but command is not a trophy — and now the Rays, with nothing left to lose, get one more night at the Trop to make this a series.
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Sources: Reuters (the 4-3 final in 12 innings and the walk-off by Williamson; Milwaukee’s 3-1 series lead and Game 5 Wednesday in St. Petersburg; Pratt’s four hits and go-ahead 12th-inning homer off Seymour; the Ortiz error, the Drohan line and the four-single rally; Chourio’s 10 hits in four World Series games, matched only by Babe Ruth in 1928; Simpson’s RBI double and leaping ninth-inning catch; the Hamilton error and his game-tying fifth-inning homer) | USA Today (the champagne-ready scene in Milwaukee’s clubhouse; the fourth elimination-staving extra-inning win in World Series history; Caminero leaving limping and Cash’s “one leg” quote; Jax’s “no rewriting the script” quote) | New York Post (the Brewers three outs from a first title, with none of them recorded in the bottom of the 12th)
