|
|
10/25/2026 01:40:00
Printable Page
10/25 01:39 CDT Frelick, Pratt lift Brewers to 5-4 comeback win over Rays and
2-0 World Series lead
Frelick, Pratt lift Brewers to 5-4 comeback win over Rays and 2-0 World Series
lead
By RONALD BLUM
AP Baseball Writer
MILWAUKEE (AP) --- Four-run deficits don't discourage the Milwaukee Brewers
this October, not with those orange Life Savers.
Sal Frelick and Cooper Pratt, two of the under-the-radar Brewers manager Pat
Murphy thinks of with his nickname for less-appreciated candy, combined for a
sweet World Series comeback.
Frelick tied the score with his first home run in three months, Pratt hit a
go-ahead single in the seventh inning to make up for his earlier error and the
Brewers stunned the Tampa Bay Rays 5-4 on Saturday night for a 2-0 World Series
lead.
"I would think I'm in that orange Life Saver category," Frelick said, turning
to Pratt. "Do you? Maybe you're a red."
Down 4-0 in the first inning, Milwaukee rallied for its seventh comeback win
among nine postseason victories. The Brewers also rebounded from a 4-0 deficit
to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-4 in Game 4 of the NL Championship Series,
completing a four-game sweep.
Milwaukee has won seven straight games and became the fifth team to twice
overcome four-run deficits for victories in a single postseason, the first
since Philadelphia in 2022.
"They believe and they don't give up," Murphy said. "They just keep going."
Tampa Bay first baseman Jonathan Aranda committed one error and misplayed a
foul pop, left fielder Chandler Simpson dropped a flyball and slow-footed
catcher Liam Hicks was thrown out at the plate by Brewers left fielder Jackson
Chourio.
"We've had moments like these throughout the regular season and we've been able
to flip the page," Aranda said. "So we just have to do that here."
Abner Uribe pitched 1 1/3 hitless innings for the win, and the game ended when
Aaron Ashby struck out Yandy Daz on a checked swing, stranding Jonny DeLuca at
third after a leadoff double in the ninth.
Game 3 of the matchup between teams seeking their first title is Monday night
at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Of the 57 previous teams to take 2-0 World Series leads, 46 claimed the
championship.
"We got beaten in all phases of the game," DeLuca said. "We love playing at the
Trop. It's a unique place."
After losing Friday's opener 3-2, the Rays burst ahead in the first against
rookie Logan Henderson.
Pratt made his fourth error of the postseason at shortstop, the Brewers' ninth
in 10 games, bouncing his throw past first baseman Jake Bauers on Daz's
leadoff grounder. Simpson and Junior Caminero followed with RBI singles, and
Liam Hicks hit a two-run homer.
Milwaukee started to claw back with two runs in the bottom half off Rays ace
Drew Rasmussen.
Chourio and Bauers started with singles and Aranda allowed Contreras' one-out
foul pop to bounce out of his mitt near netting in front of the seats.
With Bauers running on a full-count pitch, Contreras bounced an RBI single to
the left of second baseman Richie Palacios, who had taken a step toward the bag.
"It's a huge at-bat," Murphy said. "That first inning meant something that we
bounced back against a pitcher that good."
Garrett Mitchell's two-out single cut the deficit to 4-2 in the highest-scoring
Series first inning since 1993's Game 4. Hamilton hit an RBI grounder in the
fourth that bounced under Aranda's legs for an error.
Frelick capped a nine-pitch at-bat against Ian Seymour in the sixth by driving
a fastball over the center-field fence. The 5-foot-9 No. 8 hitter sped around
the bases in 18.72 seconds, half the time of some theatrical postseason trots.
"I don't think he knows what it's like to hit a home run to dead center, so I
don't think he knew if he got it or not," Bauers said.
Frelick had gone 103 plate appearances without a home run since his July 11
drive off Pittsburgh's Braxton Ashcraft and had not gone deep against a lefty
pitcher since opening day against Tyler Gilbert of the Chicago White Sox.
"He's got the `it factor,'" Murphy said before the game. "You think of Joe
Montana. You think of people that have --- Larry Bird --- that have the it
factor. I'm not saying he's at that level of talent or has been in a position
to do those things, but he has that `it factor.' He can take a team down the
field."
Caminero reacted by yelling at teammates in Tampa Bay's dugout.
"Just trying to create some energy and get some life back into us," he said
through a translator.
One of the 12-year-old kid reporters from Wisconsin working the Series pointed
out to Frelick that his home run caused Bernie Brewer, Milwaukee's mascot, to
slide down his 75-foot slide beyond the left-field fence for the first time in
World Series history.
"That's really cool," Frelick said. "I only made him go down four times this
whole year."
Screaming fans in the crowd of 43,245 at Milwaukee's first World Series since
1982 were fired up during the seventh-inning stretch, dancing to the "Beer
Barrel Polka" played by Mike Schneider, an accordionist from Clinton, Wisconsin.
"It's mayhem, and I've never experienced anything like it before," Frelick
said. "It's been motivating for all the players."
Brice Turang doubled against losing pitcher Tyler Wells on the second pitch of
the bottom half, advanced on Mitchell's deep flyout to right and scored when
Pratt looped a 2-2 sinker from Kevin Kelly into short right field.
"My heart was racing," Pratt said. "You saw me chase the 1-1 pitch in the other
batter's box."
A 22-year-old who debuted in June, Pratt has had a season of learning. Murphy
removed him from an Aug. 25 game at the New York Mets when he didn't run hard
on a bloop single.
Pratt thought of that as he spoke with Frelick.
"I sat there next to this guy, and he's like, `Hey, man, I've been there, I've
done that. I've been pulled a couple times. Just don't let it happen again.
There's standards here,'" Pratt said.
Up next
Rays RHP Freddy Peralta, a two-time All-Star while pitching for the Brewers
from 2018-25, starts Game 3. He was the AL Championship Series MVP and is 2-0
with a 1.08 ERA in three postseason starts and one relief appearance. He will
be opposed by Brewers LHP Robert Gasser, who allowed one run over nine innings
in his first two postseason starts.
___
See AP's full MLB coverage here
|
