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Rays - 010 100 000 002 - 4 9 1The
Brewers made history on Tuesday night, though it was far from the history they would have chosen. They Brewers the first World Series team to be three outs away from a
World Series championship and lose the game without getting recording any of those three outs.
After Cooper Pratt (who made his major league debut a little over six months ago), homered in the top of the twelfth, giving the Brewers a 4-3 lead. It was the first time a rookie has hit a home run in extra innings in the World Series. Milwaukee, having kept the Rays off the scoreboard since the fourth inning, was hopeful of securing the franchise's first WS title.
Brewers third baseman Joey Ortiz committed a throwing error, allowing Junior Caminero to reach base to begin the bottom of the twelfth. Then reliever Shane Drohan, another rookie and the eighth Milwaukee pitcher of the night, came in and gave up four consecutive singles (Liam Hicks, Jonny DeLuca, Chandler Simpson, and pinch-hitter Ben Williamson (above pics)), three of which were grounded through the infield. The Rays scored two runs, won the game, and ensured that Game 5 will be played Wednesday night at the Trop.
It was a surprising end to a game in a series in which Milwaukee has dominated the Rays in all aspects of the game.
From 1903-2025, a World Series team won the first three games 25 times. Those 25 teams either swept the series (21 times) or lost Game 4 and won Game 5 (four times).
There have now been 14 consecutive World Series without a sweep, the longest stretch in baseball history. The last WS sweep was in 2012, when the Giants swept the Tigers.
The Brewers had a small but of a rally in the first, when Griffin Jax (4-4-2-2-6, 74) walked two batters, but those runners were left at first and third. The Rays got on the board first, in the bottom of the second. Dustin May (3-3-2-0-3, 39) gave up a leadoff single to Hicks, who was forced at second by DeLuca, who beat the relay throw. Simpson lined an 0-2 pitch into the right field corner for a double and a 1-0 lead.
Milwaukee tied the game two innings later. With two outs, Sam Frelick grounded a single into right field. Pratt (who went 4-for-5 in the game) doubled to left. But then the Rays, showing some life, immediately took the lead in the bottom of the frame. Caminero singled – and Jojo Romero relieved May. Hicks grounded to first, moving the runner to second. DeLuca grounded to third and David Hamilton of the Brewers unwisely tried tagging Caminero with the ball in his hand as he ran from second to third. Caminero dodged the tag and then Hamilton threw wildly to first for an error, which allowed Caminero to score. Then, as these things often happen, Hamilton homered to deep right-center to lead off the top of the fifth (on an 0-2 pitch!), instantly atoning for his fielding blunders, and re-tying the game at 2-2.
At which point, both lineups took a long nap – and 13 scoreless half-innings passed until the eventful 12th inning. In that time, the Rays had three baserunners, one of which reached second. The Brewers also had three men on base, but two reached base with twoouts and were stranded and one was thrown out trying to steal.
The caught stealing came on a controversial video review that went against the Brewers in the top of the ninth. With two outs, Pratt was on first and took off for second on an 0-1 pitch to pinch-hitter Antonio Vaughn. Pratt easily beat the tag by second baseman Palacois, but it was unclear whether Pratt's left hand/wrist had brushed against Palacois' glove as the fielder was catching the ball. Pratt was initially called safe but Tampa challenged the call. All of the replay angles except one (maybe) were useless in seeing if there had been any hint of contact. I was leaning towards no contact; there certainly wasn't enough evidence to overturn the call – but the call was overturned and Pratt was out.
Yandy Diaz singled to start the Rays sixth but he was doubled off first when Joey Aranda lined out to second. Simpson singled with two down in the seventh but the next batter grounded out. The Rays went in order in the eight, ninth, and tenth innings. In the eleventh, Diaz walked with two outs (the Rays' only walk of the game) and pinch-runner Jorge Mateo stole second. But Aranda flied to right to end the inning.
During that time, Milwaukee's Aaron Ashby recorded seven outs, setting a record with 18 consecutive scorless innings with in a single postseason. Ashby has also set a record with seven consecutive scoreless appearances of at least five outs; no other pitcher has done it more than five straight games.
Ian Seymour (who gave up the game-tying homer to Frelick in G2 when the Rays blew a 4-0 lead) was on the mound for the Rays in the twelfth. Pratt crushed a flat 2-2 offspeed pitch to left-center, an estimated 396 feet. It was the 29th extra-inning home run in World Series history, but the very first by a rookie. It was also the latest home run (by innings) in a potential WS clinching game; the previous four such dongs were hit in the tenth or eleventh innings. Pratt, who made his debut on June 16, is also the first rookie in WS history with four hits in a potential clinching game.
The Brewers had a chance to pad their lead when, with two outs, Jackson Chourio doubled on the 11th pitch of his plate appearance. Chouro fouled off seven pitches before doubling to the wall in right-center. Jake Bauers finished an 0-for-6 game by popping out to short.
And then it was Tampa's turn. Milwaukee's Antonio Senzatela, who pitched two perfect innings in Game 3, was the man on the mound. Caminero grounded a 1-1 pitch down the third base line. Ortiz, who had taken over for Hamilton in the ninth, fielded the ball on the line and made a long, one-hop throw to first. Bauers could not grab it on the short hop and the potential tying run was safe. Brewers manager Pat Murphy made a call to the pen and Drohan, who had pitched one inning in the NLCS, took the ball.
With Hicks at the plate, Drohan threw a strike on 0-1, but plate umpire James Hoye called it a ball. To my surprise, Contreras did not challenge the call. The count went to 2-2 and Hicks hit an opposite-field grounder through the infield and into left. Caminero, who was hobbling, somehow raced to third, sliding into the bag, or perhaps falling in a heap whose momentum carried him to the bag. Cedric Mullins pinch-ran. I was willing to accept a double play that tied the game to get rid of the baserunners and have two down. No one was listening to my plea.
DeLuca grounded a 1-2 pitch up the middle and into center field, scoring Mullins and tying the game at 3-3. Hicks stopped at second and he, too, was replaced by a pinch-runner, Nick Fortes. Simpson showed bunt a couple of times (making the two international announcers giddy with delight). On a 2-2 offering, Simpson lined a single to center. All three outfielders were playing in, so there was no chance to send Fortes. Tampa Bay had the bases loaded, and there was still no one out. As pinch-hitter Ben Williamson walked to the plate, I wondered what the chances were of a triple play. 0%, as it turned out.
Williamson chopped Drohan's first pitch into right field, somewhat towards the line. There was no play to be made, as Fortes scored and the Rays went wild.
Despite being injured and acting subdued in the twelfth inning, Junior Caminero recovered enough to deliberately draw attention to himself by celebrating by himself as his teammates congratulated each other in the infield.
My issue with these performative antics – and I'm thinking more of Caminero's home run stroll in ALCS Game 6 than this post-game nonsense – is that they are obviously planned ahead of time. These are not spontaneous acts of happiness. They are the opposite of a natural, in-the-moment reaction, and they are done solely for the cameras. Caminero is far from alone. It seems that every other athlete acts this way. I'm singling him out because (a) I watched ALCS 6 and (b) his actions were particularly obnoxious. I don't know when these performative acts first started, but I know the trend will die off at some point, and I look forward to that day. Hopefully, nothing worse replaces it.
It's also sad to see, when you understand these athletes seem incapable of simply enjoying themselves and their accomplishments without following some script they planned ahead of time of how they are going to "react" if something good happens. (Caminero's Game 2 dugout temper tantrum also seemed to be done in the hopes of being seen on camera as a "team leader". (It seems to have worked.) He could have easily made his points out of sight, without gesturing like he was hamming it up on a theater stage.) Perhaps Caminero's fall-to-his-knees-and-raise-his-hands-to-the-heavens gesture was not planned ahead of time. Regardless, it still shows that his very first thought after his team kept its season alive was not to celebrate as a member of that team, but to do something that would draw attention to himself, and himself alone, a stunt that says "me, me, me, look at me".
