The Tampa Bay Rays kept their season alive Tuesday night, beating the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3 in 12 innings to avoid a sweep and force a fifth game in a World Series the Brewers had appeared on the verge of closing out.
With the Rays trailing in the bottom of the 12th, Chandler Simpson singled to center to put runners on the corners, before pinch-hitter Ben Williamson — batting for Victor Mesa Jr. — singled to right off Brewers reliever Shane Drohan, scoring Thailan Fortes from third for the winning run. Ian Seymour picked up the win in relief, improving to 2-0 this postseason, while Drohan took the loss.
A series Milwaukee had been one win from closing
The Brewers entered the night leading the best-of-seven series 3-0 and needing only one more win to claim the franchise's first World Series title. Tuesday's loss instead sends the series back to Milwaukee for Game 5, with the Brewers still needing just a single victory to finish it off. It is the Rays' first World Series appearance in a full, uninterrupted season since 2008, and Tuesday's comeback marked their second extra-inning game of the series.
Neither team has ever won a World Series, a rare meeting between two long-running championship droughts. Game 1 of the series went to the Brewers 3-2, a contest also decided late, when rookie fireballer Jacob Misiorowski opened the game with a 103.5 mph fastball before closing it out under pressure in the ninth.
For a look at just how deep a hole Tampa Bay was climbing out of heading into Tuesday, another newsroom's account of the Brewers' commanding 3-0 lead entering the Tampa leg of the series captures how lopsided the matchup looked only a day earlier.
The Rays now need to win three straight games against a Brewers team that has controlled most of the series, starting with Game 5 in Milwaukee. No team has come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a World Series since the 2004 Boston Red Sox did it in the American League Championship Series — not the Fall Classic itself, underscoring how rare Tuesday's reprieve was, even if the Rays remain decided underdogs to complete the comeback.
