The Milwaukee Brewers were three outs from the first World Series title in franchise history Tuesday night. Then the first five Tampa Bay hitters in the bottom of the 12th reached base, and the Rays won Game 4, 4-3, on a pinch-hit single by Ben Williamson.
Milwaukee still leads the series 3-1. Game 5 is tonight at Tropicana Field (7 p.m. CT, FOX), and the Brewers will start Jacob Misiorowski, who spent the late innings of Game 4 in the bullpen and never got in.
How the 12th got away
Rookie Cooper Pratt led off the top of the 12th against Rays reliever Ian Seymour and hit a 2-2 sweeper into the left-center seats for a 3-2 lead. It was his fourth hit of the night. He’s the first rookie to homer in extra innings of a World Series game, and the first rookie with four hits in a potential World Series clincher, according to Elias, per MLB.com’s Sarah Langs. Jackson Chourio doubled with two outs, but Seymour got NLCS MVP Jake Bauers to pop out.
Antonio Senzatela stayed in to start the bottom half, working a second inning on the second straight night. Junior Caminero hit a bouncer to deep third, where Joey Ortiz had come into the game late. Ortiz bounced the throw and it got off Bauers’ glove at first.
“There’s no excuse,” Ortiz said, per MLB.com. “Not one at all. I should make that play every [bleeping] time.”
Pat Murphy went to Shane Drohan, pitching for the first time since Oct. 15 and making his World Series debut, the AP reported. Drohan never got an out. Liam Hicks singled through the left side, and Caminero, already limping, made it to third before Cedric Mullins ran for him. Jonny DeLuca singled up the middle to score Mullins and tie it. Chandler Simpson lined a single to center to load the bases.
Milwaukee pulled in a fifth infielder, and the Rays sent up Williamson to pinch-hit for Victor Mesa Jr. Williamson, who had been 1-for-15 this postseason, swung at Drohan’s first pitch and chopped it over Bauers into right field, and pinch-runner Nick Fortes scored the winning run. The game took 4 hours and 20 minutes and ended at about 11:30 p.m. CT.
“We weren’t knocking balls in the gap or knocking balls out of the ballpark,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said, per MLB.com. “We pieced together a big inning, maybe the most important inning of our season.”
Why Misiorowski stayed put
Misiorowski went down to the bullpen once the game went past nine, Sportsnet reported, but he stayed there even after Pratt’s homer. Murphy said afterward that he was never going to use him in relief. Pitching him Tuesday would have cost Milwaukee the chance to start him on regular rest in Game 5.
“You can’t blow that type of situation on a one-run lead on the road,” Murphy said. “If we were in the 13th inning and we had a three-run lead, that might have been a little bit different. Probably still wouldn’t have.”
The logic holds up on paper. Misiorowski led the majors in ERA (1.80), strikeouts (252) and WHIP (0.80) during the regular season, per MLB.com. Use him in the 12th, lose anyway, and the Brewers would have been piecing together Game 5 the way the Rays now have to.
The bullpen was already stretched. Closer Trevor Megill faced one batter, striking out Yandy Díaz on five pitches to end the eighth. Asked whether he regretted using Megill for only one batter, Murphy said “Yes,” while stressing he would make the same decision again, per MLB.com. Aaron Ashby took the ninth and 10th and got the first out of the 11th, which left Senzatela and Drohan for the 12th.
Ashby’s 2 1/3 scoreless innings pushed his streak to 18 this postseason, the most consecutive scoreless innings by a reliever within a single postseason. He passed Andrew Miller’s 16 from 2016, and Miller was in the building to see it.
The history
The only other team to walk off in the World Series while facing a sweep was the 1910 Cubs, per MLB.com. It was the 17th walk-off win by a team facing elimination in World Series history and the first since David Freese and the Cardinals in Game 6 in 2011, also on Oct. 27.
The Rays are the fifth team to force a World Series Game 5 after trailing 3-0, joining the 2024 Yankees, 1970 Reds, 1937 Giants and 1910 Cubs. None of those four got to a Game 6.
The loss ended Milwaukee’s eight-game postseason winning streak, one shy of the record. Chourio has 10 hits in the series, tied with Babe Ruth in 1928 for the most through the first four games of a World Series. The Brewers also had 12 of the 13 hardest-hit balls of the night and scored three runs.
My take from the mound
You have to go to Misiorowski right there. If you go to Misiorowski, I believe the game is over, the Brewers win the World Series, and we’re not even worried about a Game 5.
I understand why Pat Murphy did what he did, but ultimately, you’re playing with fire. You extend games. You can’t lose a game with your best pitcher ready to pitch in the bullpen. You go out there and you try to win it that night, and avoid any other long-term issues that could happen.
What happens if you lose Game 5 now? Then it becomes a big mess. So I believe you pitch Misiorowski, and you clinch the World Series.
What to watch in Game 5
Misiorowski on four days’ rest. This will be only the seventh start of his career, regular season and postseason, on four days’ rest, per MLB.com. He has a 2.03 ERA in the previous six. All three of his postseason starts came on at least five days, and he’s 1-0 with a 2.70 ERA in them, including five innings and one run against the Rays in Game 1. “It’s nothing new,” he said. “I’m used to it in the Minor Leagues going Tuesday-Sunday.”
Who starts for Tampa Bay. Cash hadn’t named a starter as of Wednesday morning. Nick Martinez threw 33 pitches over two innings in relief Tuesday, and Seymour needed 32 to get through the 12th. Cash called Drew Rasmussen “unlikely” to go on three days’ rest. Steven Matz, Garrett Cleavinger and Cole Sulser didn’t pitch in Game 4, which makes them the freshest arms, per MLB.com.
The Brewers’ bullpen. Megill threw five pitches and Abner Uribe 19, so both should be ready. Ashby threw 31 and will probably be available, per MLB.com.
Caminero’s leg. He left Game 4 limping, and his status wasn’t clear after the game, per USA Today. Cash: “He’ll play tomorrow with one leg. I’ll make sure of it.”
If the Rays win tonight, the series goes back to Milwaukee for Game 6 on Friday and, if needed, Game 7 on Saturday.
Let me know in the comments.
Featured photo: Jacob Misiorowski pitching for the Brewers in Milwaukee, June 2025. Drovetochicago / CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons (cropped)
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