The Milwaukee Brewers are one win away from the first World Series title in franchise history.
They beat the Tampa Bay Rays 10-1 in Game 3 on Monday night at Tropicana Field and lead the series 3-0. The game turned in the fifth inning, when Milwaukee scored eight runs and every one of them came with two outs. That’s the most two-out runs in an inning in World Series history, according to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs.
Game 4 is tonight at 7 p.m. CT.
The inning that almost didn’t happen
Milwaukee led 2-0 going into the fifth on RBI singles from Christian Yelich and William Contreras in the third, per the ESPN box score.
Freddy Peralta was one out from getting through the fifth without a run. With two on and two outs, Contreras chopped a ball to Junior Caminero at third. Caminero threw to second, and Yelich was called out on a force that would have ended the inning. The Brewers challenged. Replay showed Yelich’s foot hit the bag before the throw got there, MLB.com reported. Contreras had an infield single, the bases were loaded, and Peralta’s night was over.
“I understood why he thought the best avenue was to go to second,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “But it was a good job by Yelich busting it to second base and getting there safe.”
Lefty Cam Booser came in, and Brice Turang’s liner took a hop off shortstop Taylor Walls’ glove for two runs. Walls called it “a knife in the chest.” Garrett Mitchell, Cooper Pratt and Sal Frelick all drove in runs off Booser after that. Cole Sulser replaced him and gave up RBI hits to David Hamilton and Jackson Chourio before the inning finally ended.
Starting with Contreras, the Brewers got seven straight hits. No team had ever done that in a postseason game, per STATS via MLB.com. Cash called it “deflating.”
Chourio and Gasser
Chourio had four hits, two of them in the fifth, and is 8-for-14 in the series. Robert Gasser threw six scoreless innings and allowed one hit. He faced the minimum, the first starter to do that over six innings in a World Series game since Curt Schilling in 2001, the AP reported. Milwaukee out-hit Tampa Bay 16-3, and the Rays’ only run came in the ninth off Brandon Woodruff, who was pitching for the first time since July 4.
Peralta was charged with five runs on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings, per NBC Sports. Two scored in the third. The other three were the runners he left on in the fifth. He came up with Milwaukee, went to the Mets last winter and ended up in Tampa Bay, where he was the ALCS MVP. We wrote before the game about him having to beat the team that built him.
“The key for them was that they weren’t trying to do too much,” Peralta said, per MLB.com. “What I saw tonight [is] they were just waiting for a good pitch and just tried to hit the ball.”
My take from the mound
The team of destiny strikes again. The Brewers put up eight straight runs on a two out rally, and Freddy Peralta was the one on the mound when it started.
I’ve been there before. Back in college, I gave up like seven straight hits one time, and the feeling is helplessness. It didn’t matter where I threw the ball, I felt like it was gonna be hit and hit hard. So I know how he feels. I’m sure he’s pretty frustrated having it be his former team.
I think the series is over, and I think the Rays are gonna be swept. When you run into a buzzsaw like the Brewers, there’s not much you can do.
What’s next
Griffin Jax starts Game 4 for Tampa Bay tonight at Tropicana Field (7 p.m. CT, FOX). Milwaukee hadn’t named a starter as of early Tuesday, per MLB.com, but its top relievers all got Monday off.
The Brewers have won eight straight this postseason, tied for the single-postseason record. One more gives them the record outright and the title. Teams up 3-0 in a best-of-seven have won 42 of 43 times, and no team has even forced a Game 6 in the World Series from 0-3.
Let me know in the comments.
Featured photo: IanStone20165 / CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons (cropped)
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