Ben Williamson's Walk-Off Single in the 12th Saves Tampa Bay's Season — Rays 4, Brewers 3

Three outs. That was all that stood between the Milwaukee Brewers and the first World Series championship in franchise history.

Cooper Pratt had just done the hardest part. The rookie — already 3-for-4 on the night — turned on a pitch in the top of the 12th and sent it 396 feet into the left-center field seats, a solo homer that put Milwaukee ahead 3–2 and made him, per FOX, the first rookie in World Series history with four hits in a potential clincher. The visiting dugout poured out. The sweep was three outs away.

Tampa Bay refused to go.

Cedric Mullins opened the bottom of the 12th on second base, and the inning unraveled for Milwaukee one single at a time. Junior Caminero reached on shortstop Joey Ortiz's throwing error, moving Mullins to third. Liam Hicks singled, loading the bases with nobody out — and then the singles kept coming off Shane Drohan, who never recorded an out. Jonny DeLuca lined one to center to score Mullins and tie the game. Chandler Simpson singled to load them again. And Ben Williamson — pinch-hitting for Victor Mesa Jr., a .067 hitter this postseason — shot a single into right field. Nick Fortes, running for Hicks, came home. Rays 4, Brewers 3. Season saved.

It took twelve innings to get there because neither team would blink. Tampa Bay struck first in the second, when Jonathan Aranda drove in Taylor Walls. Pratt's RBI double tied it in the fourth. Simpson's RBI single put Tampa Bay back in front in the bottom half — and David Hamilton, whose error helped cost Milwaukee in Game 1, tied it again in the fifth with a home run.

From there, the bullpens took the game over. Aaron Ashby gave Milwaukee 2⅓ more scoreless innings with three strikeouts, running his postseason scoreless streak to 18 straight innings — a new record, passing the 16 Andrew Miller threw for Cleveland in 2016. Pratt nearly manufactured the winner himself in the ninth, singling for his third hit before a Rays challenge overturned his stolen-base call to end the inning. Starters Griffin Jax (four innings, six strikeouts) and Dustin May (three innings) each allowed two runs and handed it to the pens early.

The loss lands on Drohan (0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, blown save), who faced four batters in the 12th and retired none. Ian Seymour — who served up Pratt's homer in the top half — gets the win, the strangest line of the night: the pitcher who nearly lost the World Series is the pitcher of record in the game that kept it alive. Antonio Senzatela was charged with the tying run, unearned, on Ortiz's error.

Stats Hub duel: Cooper Pratt (MIL) — 4-for-5, HR, 2 RBI, R, the go-ahead homer in the 12th. Ben Williamson (TB) — 1-for-1, the walk-off RBI single as a pinch-hitter in the 12th.

Milwaukee still leads the Series 3–1, and history is still wearing its colors: no club has ever climbed out of a 3–0 hole in the World Series. But the Brewers were three outs from making all of that moot, with a rookie's storybook night in their pocket — and Tampa Bay took it back in five batters. Game 5 is Wednesday night at Tropicana Field (8 p.m. ET, FOX). The Rays need three more just like this one.

Previously's take: the best game of this World Series flipped on the smallest possible unit — four singles, none of them crushed, in the one inning Milwaukee could not afford to leak. Pratt authored the game of his life and still lost. That's October.