Rays Stall Brewers' Sweep in 12-Inning Thriller
A late rally in St. Petersburg puts Tampa Bay within one win of elimination, though history suggests the series is effectively over.
By Jessica Abebe ·
The Tampa Bay Rays erased a three-game deficit against the Milwaukee Brewers by winning Tuesday night's Game 4, 4-3, in 12 innings at Tropicana Field. The victory stopped Milwaukee from completing a historic sweep and kept the World Series alive with one game remaining in Florida before the series shifts to the Midwest.
Tampa Bay had lost the first two games in Milwaukee and dropped the opener at home. On Tuesday, they mounted a final-inning rally to secure the win. Jacob Misiorowski, the favorite for the National League Cy Young Award, is scheduled to start for the Brewers in Game 5.
The fifth game is set for Wednesday at 8 p.m. Eastern at Tropicana Field. The Rays face steep historical odds. They are only the fifth team in World Series history to win Game 4 after falling behind 3-0. The four teams that achieved that feat all lost Game 5 and the series.
Across all seven-game post-season series, only one team has ever recovered from a 3-0 hole: the 2004 Boston Red Sox, who beat the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series. The other 42 teams facing that deficit lost the series.
The Rays' win snapped an eight-game winning streak for the Brewers. Milwaukee had been aiming to become the second team ever to sweep both a league championship series and the World Series.
The series now stands at 3-1 in favor of the Brewers, with the next contest taking place in St. Petersburg.
