Milwaukee were three outs from a championship and the visiting fans inside Tropicana Field were already celebrating. Then Tampa Bay scored twice in their final turn at bat of the 12th inning, won the fourth game of the Fall Classic 4-3 and trimmed Milwaukee’s series lead to 3-1.
The decisive inning began with the Rays trailing after rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt, who finished with four hits, launched a solo homer off Ian Seymour. Facing Shane Drohan, DeLuca tied it with a base hit, and another single from Simpson left every base occupied. Ben Williamson, sent up as a pinch-hitter, bounced a ball into right field and pinch-runner Nick Fortes raced in to end it.
Before that, neither side could pull clear. Simpson’s double gave Tampa a 1-0 edge in the second, Pratt doubled in the equaliser, and a David Hamilton error let Junior Caminero score for 2-1 before Hamilton atoned with a fifth-inning home run. From there the bullpens took over. Brewers left-hander Aaron Ashby stretched his scoreless streak this October to 18 innings, eclipsing the relief record of 16 set by Andrew Miller in 2016.
The comeback carries some history. Teams facing elimination have walked off in the World Series before, but only the 1910 Chicago Cubs had done it while staring at a sweep. The defeat also denied Milwaukee a ninth straight postseason win, which would have been a first.
Game 5 is on Wednesday in St. Petersburg, the Rays’ last home date of the season. Should Tampa Bay prevail again, both teams will fly north to Wisconsin for Game 6.
