An old saying goes that a postseason series doesn’t truly start until the road team wins a game, so the Tampa Bay Rays better hope the Fall Classic doesn’t end anytime soon.
That’s because the Milwaukee Brewers are two wins away from their first World Series title after a wild comeback in Game 2 in their home stadium.
The Rays got jumping early after their Game 1 loss on Friday, scoring four runs in the first with RBI singles by Chandler Simpson and Junior Caminero and then a two-run jack by Liam Hicks. The Brewers chipped away to cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the first, as William Contreras and Garrett Mitchell each had an RBI single.
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The starting pitchers in Logan Henderson and Drew Rasmussen combined to throw just 6.2 innings — Rasmussen was taken out in the fourth after loading the bases and allowing another run, but Christian Yelich grounded out to end the threat. The Brewers bullpen continued to stand on its head, though, keeping the Rays off the scoreboard.
In the bottom of the sixth, Sal Frelick led off the inning with a lefty-on-lefty solo homer off Ian Seymour in a nine-pitch at-bat, completely erasing the deficit. Cooper Pratt drove in Brice Turang to give Milwaukee a 5-4 lead an inning later.
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The Brewers put runners on second and third with the four-hitter in Contreras at the plate in the eighth but were unable to add insurance, and Johnny DeLuca promptly started the top of the ninth with a double to put the tying run in scoring position.
Yandy Diaz came to the dish with two outs and DeLuca on third, but Aaron Ashby’s postseason scoreless streak is now at 15.2 innings, as the first-base umpire ruled that Diaz didn’t check his swing on a 3-2 count, controversially ending the game.
For certain, the call could have went either way. Jonathan Aranda, who is hitting .310 this postseason, was on deck, with Simpson and Caminero following.
Milwaukee tacked on 11 total hits to Tampa Bay’s seven — three of which came in the first inning. The Rays were left scoreless after the first inning.
The 1996 New York Yankees are the last team to win the World Series after losing the first two games. Both losses came at home before the Yankees won four straight. Teams that take the first two games of a best-of-seven postseason series are 79-16 all time.
Game 3 is in Tampa Bay on Monday night.
