Photo: Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Milwaukee Brewers completed a stunning comeback at American Family Field on Saturday night, rallying from 4-0 down to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-4 in Game 2 of the World Series and take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Milwaukee also won Game 1, 3-2, and the two victories were the first World Series games played in the city since 1982.
Rays jump out in front
For the first inning, the night belonged to Tampa Bay. The Rays scored four runs in the top of the first, highlighted by a two-run homer from Liam Hicks. Brewers starter Logan Henderson never settled: he was charged with four runs, three of them earned, in three innings, and an error by rookie Cooper Pratt contributed to the damage. It was the worst possible start for the home crowd — and it did not last.
Milwaukee answered immediately with two runs in the bottom of the first, then pulled within 4-3 in the fourth inning with help from a Rays error. The early deficit had shrunk to a single run, and from there the game settled into the hands of the two pitching staffs.
Frelick ties it, Pratt wins it
Sal Frelick tied the game 4-4 in the sixth inning, launching a solo home run 408 feet — the first postseason homer of his career. An inning later, Brice Turang doubled, and Pratt stepped in with a chance to make up for his first-inning error. He did exactly that, singling off Kevin Kelly to drive in Turang and put Milwaukee ahead 5-4. The rookie whose mistake had helped dig the early hole had delivered the go-ahead run.
Six scoreless innings from the bullpen
From there, the Brewers' bullpen took over. Milwaukee's relievers threw six scoreless innings, with JoJo Romero, Dustin May and DL Hall bridging the game to Abner Uribe, who earned the win, and Aaron Ashby, who closed it out for the save — his third of this postseason. Ashby has now thrown 15⅔ scoreless innings in these playoffs, and Milwaukee needed every one of them on Saturday night.
A check swing ends it
The ninth inning still had one more twist. Jonny DeLuca led off with a double and moved to third, putting the tying run 90 feet away. Ashby worked Yandy Diaz to a full count, and on the payoff pitch Diaz checked his swing. The appeal went to first-base umpire James Hoye, who ruled it a swing — strike three, game over, and the tying run stranded at third for the second straight game. Check-swing calls cannot be reviewed, so the ruling stood.
"In the moment, yeah, I disagreed," Diaz said afterwards. "But the umpire said it was a swing and it is what it is."
For Tampa Bay, the frustration is in the margins: the Rays have lost each of the first two games by a single run, and in both games they left the tying run standing at third base in the ninth inning. The series now shifts to Florida, with Game 3 scheduled for Monday, October 26, in St. Petersburg. History is against the Rays: only 10 teams have ever come back from 2-0 down to win the World Series, the last of them the 1996 New York Yankees. Milwaukee, meanwhile, stands two wins from a championship after waiting since 1982 just to host a World Series game again.
Sources: Reuters, USA Today