Williamson's walk-off: Rays outlast Brewers 4-3 in 12 innings to force Game 5
Down 3-0 in the series and trailing in the 12th, Tampa Bay rallied for two runs capped by Ben Williamson's bases-loaded single to stave off elimination.
Down three games to none and tied in the 12th inning, the Tampa Bay Rays refused to let the World Series end at home, beating the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3 on Ben Williamson's bases-loaded walk-off single at Tropicana Field to force a Game 5.
How it happened
Tampa Bay struck first in the second when Chandler Simpson doubled home Jonny DeLuca. Milwaukee answered in the fourth on Cooper Pratt's RBI double, but Junior Caminero came around on an errant Milwaukee throw to put the Rays back in front. David Hamilton's solo homer in the fifth off Rays starter Griffin Jax made it 2-2 — and there it stayed, through six scoreless innings of escalating bullpen chess.
In the top of the 12th, Pratt — the Brewers' rookie — launched his first career postseason home run for a 3-2 lead that looked, briefly, like the hit that would win Milwaukee its first title. The bottom of the inning unraveled fast: Joey Ortiz's throwing error put Caminero aboard, Liam Hicks singled, DeLuca's single tied it, and Simpson's single loaded the bases with nobody out. Williamson, pinch-hitting against Shane Drohan, lined the winner to right field — his first hit of the World Series, per Yahoo Sports.
The turning point
ESPN's takeaways pointed to Ortiz's error as the moment the game flipped, and to the Rays' relief corps as the reason it was still winnable: six Tampa Bay relievers held Milwaukee to one run over eight innings, with Nick Martinez — the scheduled Game 5 starter — throwing two scoreless frames and closer Bryan Baker adding two more in his World Series debut. Milwaukee got a record of its own from Aaron Ashby, whose 2 1/3 scoreless innings set an MLB mark for consecutive scoreless relief innings in a single postseason.
What it means
The cost was steep on both sides: 15 pitchers combined for 367 pitches across 4 hours, 20 minutes, and Brewers manager Pat Murphy burned DL Hall, Abner Uribe and Ashby in a loss. No team has ever blown a 3-0 World Series lead, and Milwaukee turned to ace Jacob Misiorowski for Game 5 — but for one night, Tampa Bay made the Brewers wait.