Frelick Ties It, Pratt Wins It: Brewers Erase a 4–0 Hole to Beat the Rays 5–4 and Take a 2–0 World Series Lead

MILWAUKEE

Five batters into Game 2 of the World Series, the Milwaukee Brewers were down 4–0, their rookie starter was already in trouble, and American Family Field had gone quiet. Nine innings later the same building was shaking. Milwaukee beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5–4 on Saturday night — chipping the lead down one run at a time, tying it on Sal Frelick’s sixth-inning home run, winning it on Cooper Pratt’s seventh-inning single, and closing it with six scoreless innings from the bullpen — to take a 2–0 lead in the World Series, two wins from the first championship in franchise history.

Four runs, five batters in

The first inning was a disaster with an author. Pratt, Milwaukee’s shortstop, bounced a throw past first on Yandy Díaz’s leadoff grounder — his fourth error of this postseason. Chandler Simpson singled Díaz home, Junior Caminero singled Simpson home, and Liam Hicks drove a two-run homer to left — the first home run of this World Series — and it was 4–0 before Logan Henderson had recorded a second out. Per ESPN’s box score, Henderson lasted three innings: four runs, three of them earned, on three hits.

The answer started immediately, against Tampa Bay’s ace. Jackson Chourio and Jake Bauers opened the bottom of the first with singles, William Contreras singled Chourio home, and Garrett Mitchell’s two-out single scored Bauers to cut it to 4–2. Drew Rasmussen, given extra rest for this start, was gone in the fourth — 3⅔ innings, six hits, three runs — his shortest start since July 9 (AP game story).

The climb: one run at a time

Milwaukee’s third run arrived the way Tampa Bay’s first four had: on a mistake. In the fourth, David Hamilton’s run-scoring grounder bounced under first baseman Jonathan Aranda’s legs for an error, and Pratt — the man whose error had opened the game — scored to make it 4–3. The Rays, who won the American League pennant by forcing other teams into mistakes, committed one charged error and two more misplays the AP account notes could have been charged as errors.

The tying run nearly died at the plate an inning before it scored. In the top of the sixth, with Hicks on second, Victor Mesa Jr. singled to left — and Chourio threw Hicks out at home for the final out of the inning, the Rays’ slow-footed catcher sent by his third-base coach and beaten by the throw (AP game story). The half-inning ended with the lead intact and the crowd back on its feet.

Frelick’s nine pitches

Frelick had not homered in three months — 103 plate appearances without one since July 11, per the AP account — and he was batting against a left-hander, Ian Seymour. The at-bat went nine pitches, four of them fouled off, before Frelick drove a 93-mph fastball 408 feet over the center-field fence (USA Today). The No. 8 hitter’s first home run since July tied a World Series game in the sixth inning: 4–4. He finished 2-for-4 and sprinted around the bases — the celebration in this story’s photograph is that trip around them.

One inning later the Brewers had their lead. Brice Turang reached and came around on Pratt’s single off Kevin Kelly — a go-ahead RBI single in the seventh inning of a World Series game, from the shortstop whose throwing error had started the 4–0 hole. Pratt finished 1-for-3 with a walk, a run scored, and the run batted in that held up as the winner.

Six scoreless innings

From the fourth inning on, Tampa Bay did not score. JoJo Romero, Dustin May and DL Hall threw an inning each; Abner Uribe got four outs; and Aaron Ashby recorded the final five outs for the save — six scoreless innings of relief in all, against a lineup that had scored four times in the first. It was Milwaukee’s seventh comeback win of this postseason, and the second time this month the Brewers have erased a 4–0 deficit, after the 6–4 win that finished the NLCS sweep of the Dodgers (AP game story).

The last out was the loudest. With the tying run at third base in the ninth, Ashby struck out Díaz — hitless in five at-bats on the night — to end it. Ashby has now worked eight appearances this postseason without allowing a run (theScore). Milwaukee’s seventh straight postseason win extends the franchise record, and the Series leaves Wisconsin with the Brewers halfway to a title.

History is standing behind them. Only 11 of the 57 teams to fall behind 2–0 in a World Series have come back to win it, and none since the 1996 Yankees (USA Today). Game 3 is Monday at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, where the Rays start Freddy Peralta — the two-time All-Star who pitched eight seasons for Milwaukee and was the ALCS MVP — against Brewers left-hander Robert Gasser. First, though, Milwaukee gets a night to enjoy this: down 4–0 in the first, winners 5–4 in the ninth, and two wins from a parade.

Full box score, linescore and play-by-play: Game Center — Rays at Brewers, World Series Game 2. More: MLB hub · Stats Hub