The Milwaukee Brewers keep finding ways out of holes. Down 4-0 in the first inning of Game 2 on Saturday night, they clawed back to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-4 and take a 2-0 lead in the World Series, The Guardian reported. It was their seventh comeback win of the postseason and their seventh straight victory.
Milwaukee is now the fifth team to win twice in one postseason after trailing by four runs, and the first to do it since 2022. The Brewers also overturned a 4-0 deficit to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 4 of the NL Championship Series, finishing a sweep.
How it turned
The Rays, who won the AL pennant by forcing opponents into mistakes, made too many of their own. Tampa Bay jumped on rookie Logan Henderson for four runs in a wild first inning, helped by a throwing error from shortstop Cooper Pratt, as Chandler Simpson and Junior Caminero drove in runs and Liam Hicks hit a two-run homer. But Jonathan Aranda let a foul pop slip out of his mitt in the bottom half, and William Contreras followed with an RBI single as Milwaukee got two back against Rays ace Drew Rasmussen.
David Hamilton made it 4-3 in the fourth on a grounder that skipped under Aranda for an error. In the sixth, Sal Frelick tied it with a drive over the center-field fence off Ian Seymour at the end of a nine-pitch at-bat, his first homer in three months. Hicks was thrown out at the plate by Jackson Chourio to end the top of the inning.
In the seventh, Brice Turang doubled off Tyler Wells, moved up on a flyout and scored when Pratt, a 22-year-old who debuted in June, dropped a single into shallow right off Kevin Kelly. Abner Uribe got the win, and Aaron Ashby escaped a ninth-inning jam for his third scoreless save of the postseason.
What Tampa Bay needs now
History is against the Rays. Of 57 previous teams to lead the World Series 2-0, 46 won the title, and no team has rallied from that deficit in the Series in 30 years, according to CBS Sports. Still, CBS noted, comebacks from 2-0 down in a best-of-seven have happened as recently as last season.
The path starts with Freddy Peralta, who has allowed just two runs in 16 2/3 postseason innings and owns a 0.88 ERA since Aug. 26. The Rays also need to clean up their defense and lean on home field: they went 55-26 at Tropicana Field, tied with Milwaukee for the best home record in baseball. Rays manager Kevin Cash admitted it was probably not his team's best day.
"I respect Tampa, and we've got a long way to go," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. Game 3 is Monday night at Tropicana Field, with both teams chasing a first championship.
Reporting sources: Sport | The Guardian, “Brewers erase four-run deficit to stun Rays and take 2-0 World Series lead” · CBS Sports Headlines, “Four things that need to happen for Rays to overcome 2-0 World Series deficit vs. Brewers”.