WORLD SERIES
(Best of seven)
All games at 8 p.m.
Game 1 – Brewers 3, Rays 2
Game 2 – Brewers 5, Rays 4
Game 3 – Brewers 10, Rays 1 (Milwaukee leads series 3-0)
Game 4 – at Tropicana Field, Tuesday
Game 5 – at Tropicana Field, Wednesday (if necessary)
Game 6 – at Milwaukee, Friday (if necessary)
Game 7 – at Milwaukee, Saturday (if necessary)
TV: WTVT (Fox), Fox Deportes
Radio: WDAE (95.7 FM/620 AM)
The Tampa Bay Rays came home to Tropicana Field on Monday looking to turn two heartbreaking one-run losses into a World Series comeback. Instead, they had their heart ripped out by the Milwaukee Brewers, who are a win away from their first championship.
The Brewers torched the Rays for eight runs in the fifth inning, turning Game 3 into a 10-1 bludgeoning and a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Game 4 is back at the Trop on Tuesday night, but it is expected the thousands of Brewers fans who made the flight south for Monday's game with grow exponentially with a chance to clinch. If the Rays win, Game 5 would also be in St. Petersburg.
Of 43 teams to trail 0-3 in a best-of-seven postseason series, only the Red Sox against the New York Yankees in the 2004 AL Championship Series rebounded to win. Of 25 falling into a 0-3 World Series deficit, 21 were swept and four extended the Series to a fifth game before losing.
The Brewers put two runs up in the third on Freddy Peralta but erupted against the Rays’ starter and two relievers in the fifth. Milwaukee put up eight hits – including a postseason-record seven straight – becoming the first-ever team to score eight runs with two outs in a World Series and the second ever to do it in the postseason.
The Brewers outhit the Rays 16-3, with Jackson Chourio leading the way by going 4-for-5, with two of the hits in the decisive fifth, along with two RBIs. He was the fourth player with four hits in the first five innings of a World Series game.
William Contreras went 3-for-5 for the Brewers.
Brewers rookie left-hander Robert Gasser pitched one-hit ball and faced the minimum through six innings.
Gasser allowed a line-drive single to Yandy Díaz leading off the bottom of the first and then retired 14 straight before Victor Mesa Jr. walked to start Tampa Bay’s sixth. Gasser became the first left-hander to face the minimum 18 batters through six innings of a World Series game since Sandy Koufax did it for the Dodgers in 1965.
Milwaukee won its eighth straight postseason game and fourth in a row on the road.
The Brewers took a 2-0 lead in the third when Christian Yelich and William Contreras hit opposite-field, one-out RBI singles on consecutive pitches.
Left-hander Cam Booser relieved Peralta and Turang's 106-mph one-hop grounder bounced off the glove of shortstop Taylor Walls, who dropped to a knee and tumbled as the ball bounced into short center field and two runs scored. Booser spun his neck to watch the ball as the Brewers broke open the game with a 4-0 lead.
One pitch later, Garrett Mitchell grounded an opposite-field RBI single through the shortstop hole vacated with Walls shifted toward second for the left-handed batter. Cooper Pratt followed with a smash off the glove of diving Junior Caminero that rolled into the left-field corner for a two-run double.
Sal Frelick sliced an opposite-field double that hit the wall on a hop in the left-field corner, scoring Pratt and chasing Booser.
David Hamilton greeted Cole Sulser by lining a shoulder-high fastball into center for a run-scoring single and a 9-0 lead. Chourio then lofted an opposite-field RBI double that hit just in front of the warning track. Jake Bauers followed with an inning-ending flyout.
The Los Angeles Dodgers were the only prior team with eight two-out runs in any postseason inning, scoring 10 with two outs in the first inning of Game 3 against the Brewers in the 2020 NL Championship Series, according to MLB.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
