Game result and context
Rays 4, Brewers 3 (12): Williamson's walk-off single keeps Tampa Bay alive
Tampa Bay trailed after Cooper Pratt homered in the top of the 12th, then scored twice in the bottom half off Shane Drohan. The Rays avoided elimination at Tropicana Field.
Ben Williamson had no hits in any of the first three games of the World Series. In the bottom of the 12th inning Tuesday night, with the score tied, he grounded a single into right field off Shane Drohan. Nick Fortes scored, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3 to cut the Series deficit to 3-1 in front of 40,514 at Tropicana Field.
The hit was Williamson's only at-bat of the night and his first RBI of the postseason. His postseason average, including the hit, is .125 (2-for-16), and he had a .620 OPS in the regular season.
The rally answered an offense that had struggled to score in the Series. The Rays lost Games 1 through 3 by scores of 3-2, 5-4 and 10-1. Across 13 postseason games they are scoring 3.54 runs per game, and they have been held to two or fewer runs four times.
Tampa Bay scored in the second and fourth innings. Chandler Simpson's line-drive double to right scored Jonny DeLuca in the second, and Junior Caminero scored in the fourth when third baseman David Hamilton threw the ball away on DeLuca's fielder's choice, a call the Brewers challenged and lost. After that, Milwaukee's bullpen kept Tampa Bay off the board from the fifth inning through the 11th. JoJo Romero, Abner Uribe, DL Hall, Trevor Megill and Aaron Ashby pitched in relief without allowing an earned run.
Then Cooper Pratt homered to left-center in the top of the 12th to put Milwaukee ahead 3-2. It was Pratt's first home run of the postseason and his fourth hit of the night. He finished 4-for-5 with a double that had tied the game in the fourth, and his postseason average rose to .333. The homer dropped the Rays' win probability by 33 points, the largest swing of the game.
Drohan entered in the bottom half and did not record an out. He allowed four hits. Liam Hicks singled to left to send Caminero to third, DeLuca singled to center to score Cedric Mullins with the tying run, and Williamson followed. Drohan took the loss, and his postseason ERA stands at 18.00. Ian Seymour, who allowed one earned run in his inning, got the win.
Simpson finished 3-for-5 and is hitting .293 in the postseason. Tampa Bay starter Griffin Jax struck out six in four innings and allowed two earned runs, and six relievers followed him.
Hamilton, a .245 hitter during the regular season, homered and also made the throwing error that let Caminero score. His solo homer to right-center tied the game 2-2 in the fifth. It was his second home run of the postseason, in which he is batting .348. Milwaukee committed two errors and left 10 runners on base. Jake Bauers went 0-for-6, and Garrett Mitchell struck out three times.
The loss was only the second of October for the Brewers, who are 10-2 in the postseason. They had won the first three games of this Series by scores of 3-2, 5-4 and 10-1. Milwaukee still leads 3-1, and the Series continues with Game 5.