Milwaukee is one win from its first World Series title after a night that turned on one extraordinary inning. The Brewers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 10-1 in Game 3 on Monday at Tropicana Field, taking a 3-0 lead in the best of seven series. Tampa Bay had returned home hoping a change of scenery would slow Milwaukee down. Instead, the visitors scored eight runs in the fifth inning and never looked back, leaving the Rays needing four straight wins against a team that has barely blinked all October.
Gasser faces the minimum
The story started on the mound. Milwaukee left hander Robert Gasser threw six scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and one walk while facing the minimum 18 batters, helped by a double play that erased the one runner who reached. Reports noted that Gasser became only the second pitcher in World Series history to complete a start of six or more innings while facing the minimum, joining Don Larsen and his perfect game in 1956. Other accounts pointed to Sandy Koufax in 1965 as the last left hander to face the minimum through six innings in a World Series game, a reminder of how rare this kind of control is on this stage. Tampa Bay starter Freddy Peralta, facing his old club, was charged with five runs in four and two thirds innings, and the Rays bullpen could not stop what followed.
Eight runs with two outs
Milwaukee led 2-0 in the fifth when a replay review overturned what looked like the third out and loaded the bases. Brice Turang then drove in two runs with a single, Garrett Mitchell added a run scoring single, rookie Cooper Pratt ripped a two run double, and Sal Frelick doubled home another run. David Hamilton and Jackson Chourio added run scoring hits as Milwaukee sent 12 batters to the plate and built a 10-0 lead. Chourio finished four for five and William Contreras went three for five as Milwaukee collected 16 hits. The Game 3 box score shows how complete the performance was: Antonio Senzatela retired all six batters he faced, Frelick made a diving catch in the eighth, and Brandon Woodruff, appearing for the first time since July 4, closed the ninth, giving up Tampa Bay’s only run on a Cedric Mullins single and a Yandy Diaz double. Game 4 is on Tuesday night in St. Petersburg, and history is blunt about what Tampa Bay faces. No team has ever won a World Series after trailing 3-0, and only the 2004 Boston Red Sox have rallied from 3-0 in any best of seven postseason series.
