Milwaukee gets a second chance on Wednesday night, and that is the kindest way to describe what Game 4 did to the Brewers. Tampa Bay won 4-3 in 12 innings on Tuesday at Tropicana Field, denying Milwaukee a sweep and forcing a Game 5 that will again be played in St. Petersburg. The Brewers still lead the series 3-1. They still need one win. But the game that was supposed to end the series instead became a reminder that championships are rarely won on schedule.
The shape of the night explains the sting. Eleven innings passed without a run after the fifth, a scoreless stretch that turned the game into a test of bullpens and nerve. Milwaukee rookie Cooper Pratt, who finished with four hits, hit a solo home run in the top of the 12th to put the Brewers ahead 3-2, and for a few minutes the visitors were three outs from a title. Then the bottom of the 12th undid them: Junior Caminero reached on a throwing error, Jonny DeLuca singled to tie the game, Chandler Simpson singled to load the bases, and Ben Williamson’s hit to right field scored the winning run.
The bullpen question
Milwaukee’s bullpen had been the engine of its October, and that is why the 12th inning will be examined so closely. Shane Drohan, brought in to close the game, did not record an out in the bottom of the 12th, and the Rays, who had been quiet for most of the night, suddenly found the sequence they had been missing all series. On the other side, Tampa Bay’s relief work deserves equal attention: Aaron Ashby, whose scoreless postseason innings total of 16.2 is reported as a major league record for a single postseason, helped keep Milwaukee off the scoreboard through the long middle innings and into extra innings.
There is also a historical footnote that should temper Tampa Bay’s celebration without dismissing it. The Rays became only the fifth team in World Series history to win Game 4 after falling behind 3-0, and none of the previous four went on to win Game 5. History, in other words, says Wednesday night is the hardest game of all for a team in Tampa Bay’s position. It also says that the Rays have already done something rare simply by reaching Game 5, and rare teams sometimes keep going.
What to watch in Game 5
Three things will decide Wednesday night. First, whether Milwaukee’s bullpen resets or carries the 12th inning into the next game, because a relief corps that loses trust in itself is a different unit. Second, whether Jackson Chourio, who recorded his 10th hit in the first four games of the series and is reported to be only the second player since Babe Ruth to do so, can keep setting the table at the top of the order. Third, whether Tampa Bay’s late game belief, voiced so plainly by Simpson after Game 4, translates into early runs rather than another night of waiting until the 12th.
Reports of the Game 4 comeback framed the win as survival, and that is the right word. CEO’s preview of Game 4 had Milwaukee one win away, and that remains true. The difference is that the Brewers must now win that one game on the road, in a ballpark that has just watched its home team refuse to lose, with a Game 5 crowd that will believe, for the first time in this series, that a comeback is not just possible but already under way.
