mymotherlode
Tampa Bay's first World Series game at Tropicana Field in 18 years turned into a record-setting night, but not in favor of the home team. The Milwaukee Brewers etched their names into the history books by becoming the first team to score eight runs with two outs in a World Series inning, cruising to a 10-1 victory on Monday night and seizing a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Milwaukee's batters strung together a postseason-record seven consecutive two-out hits against Rays starter Freddy Peralta and relievers Cam Booser and Cole Sulser. The offensive explosion was fueled by Brice Turang, Garrett Mitchell, and Cooper Pratt, who combined to drive in five runs in a span of just three pitches, turning a 2-0 game into a 7-0 rout. Jackson Chourio contributed two hits in the inning alone, finishing the game with four hits overall.
The Brewers' hit parade in the decisive fifth inning included three doubles and four singles, a relentless assault that left the Rays reeling. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the previous high for runs with two outs in a World Series inning was seven, set by the Boston Red Sox in the fifth inning of the 2007 opener against the Colorado Rockies and matched by the San Francisco Giants in the eighth inning of Game 2 against the Texas Rangers in 2010.
Milwaukee had taken an early 2-0 lead in the third inning when Christian Yelich and William Contreras delivered opposite-field RBI singles on consecutive pitches with one out. The Brewers then blew the game open in the fifth, capitalizing on a controversial replay reversal that turned a potential forceout into an infield single for Contreras, loading the bases. Turang followed with a 106 mph one-hopper that skipped off the glove of shortstop Taylor Walls, allowing two runs to score. One pitch later, Mitchell singled through the vacated shortstop hole, and Pratt's two-run double into the left-field corner chased Booser from the game. Sal Frelick and David Hamilton added run-scoring hits, and Chourio capped the inning with an RBI double.
Key Analysis
The Brewers' eight-run, two-out barrage not only set a World Series record but also tied the postseason mark for any inning, matching the Los Angeles Dodgers' 10-run, two-out first inning in Game 3 of the 2020 NL Championship Series against Milwaukee, according to MLB. The loss puts Tampa Bay in dire straits: of the 43 teams to trail 0-3 in a best-of-seven postseason series, only the 2004 Boston Red Sox came back to win, and of the 25 teams to fall behind 0-3 in the World Series, 21 were swept and four managed to extend the series to a fifth game before losing. The Rays now face the daunting task of winning four straight against a Brewers team that has won the first three games by a combined score of 16-5.
Originally reported by mymotherlode.