ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Cooper Pratt knew it was gone. Joey Ortiz did too.
Pratt led off the 12th inning of Game 4 on Tuesday night by driving Ian Seymour's pitch deep into the left-center field stands, putting the Brewers a half-inning away from the franchise’s first ever World Series title.
About 20 minutes later however, Pratt was consoling Ortiz in a quiet Brewers clubhouse.
The Tampa Bay Rays scored twice in the bottom of the 12th without making an out and won Game 4, 4-3. The rally started when Ortiz bounced the throw to first on Junior Caminero’s groundball.
Ortiz didn't hide from it.
"There's no excuse," Ortiz said. "Not one at all. I should make that play every (bleeping) time."
Pratt found him afterward. His advice was short and sweet.
"Flush
it," Pratt said. "I've made about seven of them this postseason. So what? Next pitch.
“And next pitch is tomorrow.”
For the Brewers, a team that had lost just once all October, they spent the early hours of Wednesday morning trying to treat this loss like any other. They did not want to talk about being three outs from celebrating a World Series title.
"It can be (difficult), but if you don't let it, then you can just come back ready to play tomorrow," Ortiz said. "It's a new game."
Pratt had his own play he wanted to flush. He was thrown out trying to steal second in the ninth after the Rays challenged the safe call and won.
"I didn't think he touched me," he said. "I saw the video. It looked like in the video that I was touched. I couldn't feel it. He probably did."
Then he moved on, which seemed to be the point.
"I think a loss is a loss," Pratt said. "Losing by 10 runs is the same as losing by one run in the 12th. It's over. It's done with."
Joey Ortiz reflects on the costly error in the Brewers' Game 4 loss pic.twitter.com/mRMr9TLzhu
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 28, 2026
Milwaukee still leads the series 3-1. And the Brewers didn't think they played badly so much as unluckily. They hit the ball hard all night. Much of it went right at Rays fielders. William Contreras, Christian Yelich, Jake Bauers and Brice Turang went a combined 0-for-21.
"We hit a ton of balls hard today that just went right to people," Pratt said. "Nobody said this was going to be easy. They're a really good team. They've proven that all year."
The Rays will be scratching together pitching on Wednesday after using Nick Martinez in relief Tuesday night. The Brewers have the luxury of sending out their ace.
Jacob Misiorowski will start Game 5 on Wednesday night at Tropicana Field. He won Game 1 and led the majors this season with a 1.80 ERA and 252 strikeouts.
And history is on the Brewers’ side.
Every team that has led a World Series 3-0 has gone on to win it. That's 25 for 25. The Brewers are just the fifth to let Game 4 get away.
They are confident they will flush it and get back on track.
“When you're achieving something like this, it's going to have its adversity. We had some things go our way yesterday. They had some things go their way today. That's the way it is,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said.
“You just live with it, and if you're a competitor, you wake up tomorrow morning and come ready to play.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Milwaukee Brewers were three outs from a title. Now they need to 'flush it'
