ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Jackson Chourio and Brice Turang sparked Milwaukee’s eight-run fifth inning, and the Brewers routed the Tampa Bay Rays 10-1 on Monday night to move within one victory of their first World Series title.
Rookie left-hander Robert Gasser pitched one-hit ball and faced the minimum through six innings as Milwaukee rolled to a 3-0 lead in the Series. Game 4 is Tuesday night at Tropicana Field, where many Brewers fans showed up
Monday and cheered from behind the visitors’ dugout.
Gasser allowed a line-drive single to Yandy Díaz leading off the bottom of the first and then retired 14 straight before Victor Mesa Jr. walked to start the Tampa Bay sixth. Gasser became the first left-hander to face the minimum 18 batters through six innings of a World Series game since Sandy Koufax did it for the Dodgers in 1965.
Chourio went 4 for 5, William Contreras was 3 for 5 and Milwaukee racked up 16 hits off “Fastball Freddy” Peralta and five relievers to win its eighth straight postseason game and fourth in a row on the road.
Of the 43 previous major league teams to fall behind 3-0 in a best-of-seven postseason series, only the 2004 Boston Red Sox rallied to win four straight when they beat the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series.
Gasser became the first starter for Milwaukee to get an out in the sixth inning this postseason. He’s allowed one run in 15 innings over three starts, all on the road.
Peralta, the MVP of the ALCS against Cleveland, ran out of gas against the Brewers. He was charged with five runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings against his former team.
After a pair of tense, down-to-the-final-pitch, one-run games in Milwaukee, the Brewers put this one out of reach in the fifth with a postseason-record seven straight hits with two outs.
Peralta exited after Contreras’ infield single loaded the bases. The inning appeared to end when third baseman Junior Caminero fielded Contreras’ bouncer and threw to second base for a force out. But the call at second was overturned after a replay review and Cam Booser entered.
Turang ripped a liner that shortstop Taylor Walls couldn’t short hop. It bounced off his glove and rolled into shallow center, allowing two runs to score.
Garrett Mitchell followed with an RBI single, Cooper Pratt grounded a two-run double down the left-field line and Sal Frelick lined a run-scoring double to make it 8-0.
Cole Sulser replaced Booser and allowed an RBI single to David Hamilton and an RBI double to Chourio, who became the second-youngest player with four hits and a stolen base in a World Series game behind Ty Cobb in 1908.
Of the 25 previous teams who took a 3-0 lead in the World Series, 21 swept and four won in five games.
Originally the Seattle Pilots for one season in 1969, the franchise moved to Milwaukee and was renamed the Brewers in 1970. Their only other trip to the World Series came as an AL team and ended with a loss to St. Louis in Game 7 in 1982.
Led by 67-year-old manager Pat Murphy, the Brewers need just one more win to finally end their championship drought.
The Rays led the AL with 98 wins in the regular season, swept the Yankees in three games in the ALDS and beat the Guardians in six games in the ALCS.
But they made uncharacteristic mistakes on the bases and defensively in the first two games, and completely unraveled at home.
Tampa Bay also has never won a World Series in 29 seasons. The Rays lost to the Phillies in five games in 2008 and to the Dodgers in six games in 2020.
Wearing their white Devil Rays uniforms, they were eager to play in front of their home fans at the quirky, cavernous Trop, which had its roof shredded by Hurricane Milton in October 2024 and needed major renovations.
But their cowbell-ringing, towel-waving fans among a sellout crowd of 40,388 couldn’t lift them past the surging Brewers.
The Brewers led the majors with 103 wins, beat the Padres in four games in the NLDS and swept the Dodgers in the NLCS. With a win in Game 4, they would become the first team to sweep an LCS and World Series since the 1976 Cincinnati Reds.
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