The Milwaukee Brewers spotted the Tampa Bay Rays four runs in the first inning on Saturday night and still found a way to win, rallying for a 5-4 victory at American Family Field that gave them a 2-0 lead in the World Series.
Sal Frelick tied the game with a home run to center field in the sixth inning, and rookie Cooper Pratt drove in the go-ahead run with an opposite-field single in the seventh. Reliever Aaron Ashby then stranded the tying run at third base in the ninth to finish it.
It was the second time in as many postseason rounds that Milwaukee had come back from a 4-0 deficit, according to MLB.com. Teams that have taken a 2-0 lead in the World Series have gone on to win the title 80.7% of the time in 55 previous instances, MLB.com noted.
“Guys just, they don’t give up. They believe, and they don’t give up. They just keep going,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said.
A fast start for Tampa Bay
The Rays came out swinging against Brewers rookie right-hander Logan Henderson. Chandler Simpson singled home leadoff hitter Yandy Díaz, Junior Caminero followed with a run-scoring single, and catcher Liam Hicks launched a 411-foot home run to right-center, the first homer of the series, to make it 4-0.
Milwaukee began chipping away immediately. Jackson Chourio and Jake Bauers singled to open the bottom of the first, and William Contreras scored Chourio with a ground ball up the middle on a hit-and-run. Garrett Mitchell later singled to cut the lead to 4-2.
The Brewers drew within a run in the fourth when David Hamilton’s grounder skipped under the glove of Rays first baseman Jonathan Aranda for an error that let Pratt score. “It was a play that I could have made,” Aranda said afterward through an interpreter.
Tampa Bay ace Drew Rasmussen, who had been rested for the start, lasted only 3 2/3 innings, his shortest outing in months, according to MLB.com.
Frelick and Pratt deliver
Frelick, a left-handed hitter who managed just one home run against left-handed pitching in 98 regular-season plate appearances, led off the sixth against lefty reliever Ian Seymour. After working a full count, he drove a four-seam fastball over the center-field wall to tie the game at 4.
“I don’t hit a lot of home runs, especially to center. So just happy that one got out,” Frelick said.
In the seventh, Brice Turang doubled off Tyler Wells and moved to third on a long flyout by Mitchell. Tampa Bay brought in right-hander Kevin Kelly to face Pratt, who slapped a sinker into right field to put Milwaukee ahead 5-4.
The Brewers missed a chance for an insurance run in the eighth when Chourio was called out at the plate after a collision.
A tense ninth
Ashby, who has carried a heavy load out of the Milwaukee bullpen this postseason, worked a clean eighth but had to fight through the ninth. Jonny DeLuca opened the inning with a double to put the tying run in scoring position. Ashby struck out Victor Mesa Jr., got a pinch hitter to ground out to second as DeLuca moved to third, and then ran the count full on Díaz.
Ashby’s curveball ended the game when Díaz was ruled to have gone around on a check swing for strike three. CNN reported that Díaz clearly believed he had held up. “It is frustrating,” Díaz said through an interpreter. “We didn’t do our job and score more runs to help out our pitchers.”
Series shifts to Florida
Milwaukee also won Game 1 on Friday, 3-2. The Brewers, who reached the World Series by sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series, are in the Fall Classic for the first time in 44 years. Neither franchise has won a World Series, making this the first matchup between two title-seeking teams since 1980, NPR reported.
The series moves to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, for Game 3 on Monday at 8 p.m. ET, with Tampa Bay hosting Games 3, 4 and, if necessary, 5. All World Series games air on Fox.
Sources
- MLB.com: Methodical Brewers chip away at Rays, rally to seize 2-0 lead
- MLB.com: Christian Yelich leads Brewers to World Series Game 1 victory
- MLB.com: What you need to know about the 2026 World Series
- NPR: Rays will face Brewers in World Series to produce a first-time champion
- CNN: Brewers come from behind to win Game 2 and take a 2-0 World Series lead
