The Rays Scored Four Runs in the First Inning and Still Lost Game 2. Milwaukee Leads 2-0.
Tampa Bay needed one inning to look like the better team in the World Series. Chandler Simpson singled a run home, Junior Caminero singled another, and Liam Hicks launched a two-run homer 411 feet into right-center at American Family Field. Four runs, and the first home run of the series.
The Rays lost 5-4.
That makes it a 2-0 hole, and the history is brutal. Teams that have taken a 2-0 lead in the World Series have gone on to win it 80.7 percent of the time.
The First Inning Was a Record and a Warning
The two teams combined for seven hits in that opening frame, which OptaSTATS says ties the most ever in the first inning of a World Series game. Four of them belonged to Milwaukee. William Contreras singled Jackson Chourio home on a hit-and-run, Garrett Mitchell added a two-out RBI single, and a 4-0 lead was 4-2 before anyone sat down.
Those four runs were the most Tampa Bay has scored in any inning of any World Series game in franchise history. The Rays got their best possible version of the night inside 20 minutes and spent the next eight innings handing it back.
Two Errors and a Tying Home Run
Drew Rasmussen needed 29 pitches to escape the first and was gone in the fourth, his shortest start since July 9. Then the gloves got involved. Milwaukee shortstop Cooper Pratt made a throwing error in the first that put Yandy Diaz on base, and in the fourth, Rays first baseman Jonathan Aranda let a David Hamilton grounder through his glove to score Pratt. 4-3.
“I thought it was going to tail a different direction, and it ultimately didn't,” Aranda said through an interpreter.
Sal Frelick tied it in the sixth with a home run to center off left-hander Ian Seymour. Frelick had hit exactly one home run off a left-handed pitcher in 98 regular-season plate appearances. It was his first of this postseason and the second of his career.
Pratt Got His Redemption, Ashby Closed the Door
The go-ahead run came in the seventh, from the man who had opened the door for Tampa Bay six innings earlier. Brice Turang doubled, and Pratt dropped an opposite-field single off Kevin Kelly to score him. It was Pratt's first career playoff RBI and the only lead change of the game.
“I need to be better defensively, but it's always awesome when you have an opportunity to redeem yourself,” Pratt said.
Aaron Ashby got the last five outs. He has now thrown 15 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings this postseason, the second-longest streak in major league history behind Andrew Miller's 16 for Cleveland in 2016. He ended it by striking out Diaz with the tying run standing on third.
Milwaukee's bullpen threw six scoreless innings. The Brewers won 42 games in the regular season after the opponent scored first and have six more comebacks in these playoffs. Pat Murphy has stopped acting surprised.
“They just keep going,” Murphy said.
Tampa Bay Goes Home With a Problem
The series moves to Tropicana Field on Monday, where the Rays went 59-27 this year counting the playoffs. Freddy Peralta starts Game 3 against the organization that developed him and traded him away in January. Since August 26 he is 7-0 with a 0.89 ERA over his last 10 appearances, and he gave up one run in 12 innings to win ALCS MVP.
That is the right man for the spot. It is also the only reason for optimism if you root for Tampa Bay, because the team that showed up in Milwaukee scored first, led by four runs and lost the lead for good in the seventh.
“I think the game's speeding up on us right now,” Jonny DeLuca said.
He is not wrong, and there are no games left to figure it out slowly.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
.jpg){kind=link}