Tampa Bay was down to its final three outs of the season, and then it was not. The Rays beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3 in 12 innings in Game 4 of the World Series on Tuesday night at Tropicana Field, turning a night that looked finished into the most dramatic win of their season. Milwaukee still leads the series 3-1, but the Rays have forced a Game 5 on Wednesday night, and they did it the hard way: by trailing in the 12th inning, by losing the lead, and then by taking it back.
For most of the night, the game gave neither team much. Eleven innings passed without a run after the fifth, and the crowd watched two bullpens trade scoreless frames while the season hung in the balance. Then the 12th inning broke the game open in both directions. Milwaukee rookie Cooper Pratt, who finished with four hits, hit a solo home run in the top of the 12th to put the Brewers ahead 3-2. It looked like the end. It was not even the end of the inning.
The bottom of the 12th
Tampa Bay’s rally started with a mistake, and mistakes are often how seasons are saved. Junior Caminero reached base on a throwing error to open the bottom of the 12th, giving the Rays a runner without an out. Jonny DeLuca singled up the middle to tie the game, Chandler Simpson singled to load the bases, and Ben Williamson delivered a hit to right field that scored the winning run. The sequence took only a few minutes, but it reversed a night, a series narrative and, for at least one more day, a season.
Simpson’s role deserves a closer look. He went 3 for 5 with an RBI double, made a catch in the ninth that denied Garrett Mitchell a potential go-ahead RBI, and then produced the single that loaded the bases in the 12th. After the game he told television that the Rays would keep fighting to the last inning, the last out, the last player and the last pitch. It sounded like a cliche until the box score backed it up: Tampa Bay had done exactly that, in the last inning, with its last outs, against a team that had dominated the series.
What Game 5 changes, and what it does not
History is still against Tampa Bay. Reports note that the Rays became only the fifth team in World Series history to win Game 4 after falling behind 3-0, and that none of the previous four won Game 5. Milwaukee, meanwhile, has a second chance to clinch, and a bullpen that, one bad inning aside, has carried it through October. Reports of the comeback framed the win as survival, and NewsWibe’s account of Game 3 showed how quickly Milwaukee can break a game open. Game 5 will test whether Tampa Bay’s belief is a moment or a movement. Either way, the Rays have earned the right to find out, one more night, in front of their own crowd.
