Sports
Brewers’ eight-run fifth puts them one win from a World Series title
Milwaukee overwhelmed Tampa Bay 10-1 in Game 3, building its 3-0 series lead with a record-setting two-out rally. Rookie Robert Gasser held the Rays to one hit through six innings.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Milwaukee Brewers are one win from their first World Series championship after a 10-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 3 on Monday night at Tropicana Field.
Milwaukee scored twice in the third inning, then broke the game open with eight runs in the fifth. The Brewers strung together seven consecutive hits with two outs, a postseason record, and finished with 16 hits against starter Freddy Peralta and five relievers.
The rally began with a single by Jackson Chourio, who stole second with two outs. After Christian Yelich walked and William Contreras singled to load the bases, a replay review overturned a forceout call at second base, keeping the inning alive. Brice Turang’s liner then got past shortstop Taylor Walls, allowing two runs to score. Garrett Mitchell, Cooper Pratt and Sal Frelick added run-scoring hits before David Hamilton and Chourio drove in the final runs of the inning.
Chourio went 4 for 5 and stole a base. Contreras was 3 for 5. Chourio became the second-youngest player to record four hits and a stolen base in a World Series game, behind Ty Cobb in 1908.
Rookie left-hander Robert Gasser kept Tampa Bay in check, allowing a single to Yandy Díaz in the first inning and then retiring 14 straight batters. A walk to Victor Mesa Jr. opened the sixth, but a caught stealing and a double play helped Gasser face the minimum 18 batters through six innings. He was the first World Series starter to do so since Arizona’s Curt Schilling in 2001 and the first left-hander since the Dodgers’ Sandy Koufax in 1965.
Gasser became the first Milwaukee starter to record an out in the sixth inning this postseason. He has allowed one run in 15 innings across three road starts. Peralta, pitching against his former team, gave up five runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings.
The Brewers have won eight consecutive postseason games and four straight on the road. They took a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series after two earlier games in Milwaukee were decided by one run. Historically, every one of the 25 previous teams to lead the World Series 3-0 went on to win the championship: 21 completed a sweep and four won in five games.
Milwaukee’s only previous World Series appearance was in 1982, when the Brewers lost to St. Louis in seven games. Tampa Bay, which won 98 regular-season games, is seeking its first championship. Game 4 gives Milwaukee a chance to close out the series; a victory would make the Brewers the first team since Cincinnati in 1976 to sweep its league championship series and the World Series.