10/27/2026 12:24:00
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10/27 00:22 CDT Rays put on the brink of World Series flop by Brewers' historic
8-run, 2-out surge
Rays put on the brink of World Series flop by Brewers' historic 8-run, 2-out
surge
By RONALD BLUM
AP Baseball Writer
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) --- Taylor Walls stabbed at Brice Turang's sharp
grounder and felt it glance off his glove.
"Knife in the chest," the Tampa Bay Rays shortstop said.
Tampa Bay's first World Series game at Tropicana Field in 18 years turned into
a record-setter for Brewers batters.
Milwaukee became the first team to score eight runs with two outs in a World
Series inning, routing the Rays 10-1 on Monday night to take a 3-0 lead in the
best-of-seven series.
Turang's two-run single was the second of a postseason-record seven straight
two-out hits against starter Freddy Peralta and relievers Cam Booser and Cole
Sulser.
Milwaukee turned a 2-0 lead into a 7-0 advantage with hits on three straight
pitches by Turang, Garrett Mitchell and Cooper Pratt. The Brewers went on to
score eight runs in a 17-pitch span to open a 10-run advantage. Jackson Chourio
had two hits in the inning, part of his four-hit night.
"Worst feeling in the world, feeling like you let your team down," a downcast
Booser said in the quiet Tampa Bay clubhouse.
Among 25 previous teams that fell behind 3-0 in a World Series, 21 were swept
and four lost in five games. Of 43 teams to trail 3-0 in any best-of-seven
postseason matchup, only the Boston Red Sox against the New York Yankees in the
2004 American League Championship Series rebounded to win.
"It's kind of that chip and a chair mentality," Rays manager Kevin Cash said.
"We've got a seat at the table. We've got to do something with the chip.
Obviously the only thing we can do is win tomorrow."
Coming off a pair of one-run wins at American Family Field, the Brewers took a
2-0 lead in the third when Christian Yelich and William Contreras hit
opposite-field, one-out RBI singles on consecutive pitches.
Chourio singled with one out in the fifth and Christian Yelich walked with two
outs. Contreras grounded to third and Junior Caminero threw to second as umpire
Dan Bellino signaled a forceout. But the call was reversed in the New York
replay operations center by umpire Alfonso Mrquez, giving Contreras an infield
single that loaded the bases.
Caminero may have had a better chance of throwing out Contreras at first base.
"I knew the speed at first base wasn't necessarily the best in that situation,"
Caminero said through a translator. "So going into the moment, once I got the
groundball I was going to second base all the way."
Booser relieved and Turang's 106 mph one-hopper hit the dirt just past the
infield grass, bounced off Walls' glove and into short center field.
"I'd like to have that one back. Those are plays that you'd like to make, that
you expect to make even though they may be on the tougher end," Walls said.
"That was pretty much the turning point in the game there."
Walls dropped to a knee and held out his glove at shoulder level trying to make
what would have been an excellent stop, then tumbled as the ball bounced past
him.
"You just try to get your eyes as close to where the ball is going to be, the
height of the hop," he said. "Ideally, I guess if you want to talk about
fractions, if you can get your glove behind the ball and work more backwards
you have a better chance to make the play than if you're slightly above it
having to kind of work down a little bit, which is where I kind of felt I was."
Mitchell grounded an opposite-field RBI single through the shortstop hole
vacated with Walls shifted toward second for the left-handed batter. Pratt
followed with a smash off the glove of a diving Caminero that rolled into the
left-field corner for a two-run double.
Sal Frelick sliced an opposite-field double that hit the wall on a hop in the
left-field corner, scoring Pratt and chasing Booser.
David Hamilton greeted Sulser by lining a shoulder-high fastball into center
for a run-scoring single and a 9-0 lead. Chourio then lofted an opposite-field
RBI double that hit just in front of the warning track.
Boston set the previous Series high of seven runs with two outs in the fifth
inning of the 2007 opener against Colorado, a feat matched three years later by
San Francisco in the eighth inning of Game 2 against Texas, according to the
Elias Sports Bureau. The Los Angeles Dodgers were the only prior team with
eight two-out runs in any postseason inning, scoring 10 with two outs in the
first inning of Game 3 against Atlanta in the 2020 NL Championship Series.
Griffin Jax said he'll put the Series deficit out of his mind when he starts
Game 4 on Tuesday.
"We just got our butts kicked tonight. I don't think there's really much else
to say," Jax explained. "We'll just kind of forget it and try to sleep it off
and come back tomorrow ready to fight."
___
This story has been corrected to note that Turang's two-run single was the
second of seven straight two-out hits, and that the Dodgers played Atlanta in
the 2020 NLCS.
___
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