Brewers Score 8 Two-Out Runs in Fifth, Lead World Series 3-0
Robert Gasser threw six innings of one-hit ball as Milwaukee collected 16 hits to move within one victory of its first championship.
By Alina Ndlovu ·
Tampa Bay relievers Cam Booser and Cole Sulser could not stop Milwaukee's rally in the fifth inning. Milwaukee scored eight runs with two outs to pull away from Tampa Bay at Tropicana Field.
The Brewers won 10-1 on Monday night to take a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Milwaukee sent 12 batters to the plate in the fifth and collected seven consecutive hits, a postseason record. Brice Turang's single scored two runs. Garrett Mitchell followed with an RBI single. Cooper Pratt's double drove in two runs, and Sal Frelick's double brought home another run. Tampa Bay's Taylor Walls said the moment felt like a "knife to the chest." Rays manager Kevin Cash called the inning "deflating."
Tampa Bay had appeared to escape the inning when third baseman Junior Caminero fielded a grounder and forced a runner at second base. Officials overturned the call after a replay review. Milwaukee then batted around.
Milwaukee finished with 16 hits. Jackson Chourio went 4 for 5 with a double. Turang and William Contreras each went 3 for 5. Tampa Bay starter Freddy Peralta, the MVP of the ALCS against Cleveland, allowed five runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings.
Rays manager Kevin Cash said Peralta tried to "power through it a little bit." He added, "Just inconsistencies in and out of the strike zone led to a bunch of really good at-bats by the Brewer lineup."
Milwaukee rookie left-hander Robert Gasser held Tampa Bay to one hit over six innings. Yandy Díaz led off the first with a single, and Gasser then retired 14 batters in a row. He walked Victor Mesa Jr. to start the sixth. A caught stealing and a double play ended that inning. Gasser faced the minimum 18 batters through six innings, the first starter to do so in a World Series game since Arizona's Curt Schilling in 2001 and the first left-hander since Sandy Koufax in 1965. Gasser has allowed one run in 15 innings over three postseason starts.
Chourio has eight hits in three Series games. Pat Murphy, Milwaukee's manager, said of Chourio, "He was tremendous. Locked in. Gives us a big lift." Chourio said through a translator that he was "taking every at-bat like it could be my last."
Tampa Bay trailed 3-0 in the series. Of the 43 previous major league teams that fell behind 3-0 in a best-of-seven postseason series, only the 2004 Boston Red Sox came back to win. Rays manager Kevin Cash said the club had "a chip and a chair mentality."
Milwaukee has won eight straight games, tying the record for a single postseason. Tampa Bay sold out Tropicana Field with 40,388 fans. Brandon Woodruff pitched the ninth for Milwaukee in his first appearance in 3 1/2 months, allowing one run and two hits. Game 4 is Tuesday night at Tropicana Field, with Griffin Jax scheduled to start for Tampa Bay.
Source: NPR
