Brewers Rally From 4-0 Down to Beat Rays 5-4 and Take 2-0 World Series Lead
Sal Frelick's game-tying homer and Cooper Pratt's seventh-inning single carried Milwaukee past Tampa Bay in Game 2.
The Milwaukee Brewers came back from a four-run first-inning deficit to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-4 on Saturday night at American Family Field, taking a 2-0 lead in the World Series. Neither club has won a championship.
A bad first, then an answer
Tampa Bay scored four times in the top of the first against rookie Logan Henderson. The inning began when Pratt's throw on Yandy Diaz's leadoff grounder sailed past first baseman Jake Bauers for an error, and Chandler Simpson and Junior Caminero followed with RBI singles before Liam Hicks hit a two-run homer, according to AP.
Milwaukee responded in the bottom half against Rays ace Drew Rasmussen. William Contreras, with Bauers running on a full count, bounced an RBI single, and Garrett Mitchell's two-out single made it 4-2. AP noted it was the highest-scoring first inning in a World Series game since Game 4 in 1993. Hamilton added an RBI grounder in the fourth that went through the legs of Rays first baseman Jonathan Aranda for an error, making it 4-3.
Frelick ties it, Pratt wins it
In the sixth, Sal Frelick finished a nine-pitch at-bat against Ian Seymour by driving a fastball over the center-field fence to tie the game at 4-4. It was his first home run since July 11, a span of 103 plate appearances. The homer sent Bernie Brewer, the club's mascot, down his slide beyond the left-field fence for the first time in World Series history.
In the seventh, Brice Turang doubled against losing pitcher Tyler Wells, advanced on a Mitchell flyout and scored when Pratt, the 22-year-old shortstop who had made the early error, looped a 2-2 sinker from Kevin Kelly into short right field for the go-ahead run.
Closing it out
Abner Uribe worked 1 1/3 hitless innings for the win. In the ninth, Jonny DeLuca led off with a double for Tampa Bay but was stranded at third when Aaron Ashby struck out Diaz on a checked swing to end the game. Rays catcher Liam Hicks was also thrown out at the plate by Brewers left fielder Jackson Chourio, and AP noted several defensive miscues by Tampa Bay, including Aranda's error and misplayed foul pop and a dropped fly ball by Simpson.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy said of his team: "They believe and they don't give up." Milwaukee has now won seven straight games, and seven of its nine postseason wins have been comebacks, per AP.
What it means
Of the 57 previous teams to take a 2-0 World Series lead, 46 went on to win the title, AP reports. The series shifts to Tropicana Field for Game 3 on Monday night, with Freddy Peralta, who pitched for the Brewers from 2018 to 2025, starting for the Rays against Brewers left-hander Robert Gasser.