And this World Series will continue for another night!
The Tampa Bay Rays battled back in the bottom of the 12th to complete the comeback and win Game 4 of the World Series, 4-3!
Junior Caminero reached on an error after getting jammed and Liam Hicks’ single moved him over to third base and the tying run is just 90 feet away.
Caminero has been taken out of the game in favor of pinch runner Cedric Mullins, looking to get the tying run across and keep this game going.
Jonny DeLuca blasts a single back up the middle and drives in Mullins! The game is once again tied!
Ian Seymour worked his way through the rest of the 12th inning with no further damage.
There was a bit of history made in the meantime as Brewers left fielder Jackson Chourio collected his second hit of the night and 10th hit of the series with a double into the right-center field gap.
Chourio’s 10 hits through four World Series games ties a record set by Babe Ruth in 1928.
Who’s gonna blink first in St. Petersburg? It didn’t take long to get an answer.
Cooper Pratt collected his fourth hit of the game, and the biggest hit of his career, with a towering homer to left-center off Rays pitcher Ian Seymour.
After Yandy Díaz works a walk, the Rays opt to compromise future innings for the chance to end it in the 12th by replacing him with pinch runner Jorge Mateo.
Mateo does his part and steals second, putting the go-ahead run that would save the Rays’ season into scoring position. But (alas, for all our sleep schedules) that’s as far as he makes it.
Jonathan Aranda flies out and the game continues into the 12th.
Tyler Wells took to the hill again for Tampa Bay as the 11th inning got underway, and he quickly retired Christian Yelich and William Contreras.
Manager Kevin Cash then made the call to the bullpen for Cam Booser, who had a disastrous appearance yesterday in Game 3.
Booser promptly walked Brice Turang on four pitches to bring up Sal Frelick, who has had a few clutch plays in this World Series. Booser was able rebound, though, and retired Frelick with a check-swing strikeout.
The Rays come to the plate with a chance to win Game 4 – again.
Aaron Ashby is back in for the 10th. (Using closer Trevor Megill for just one batter was A Choice, but because it’s the 2026 Brewers, it probably won’t backfire!)
He gets Jonny DeLuca to ground out quickly, makes a slick fielding play and fires a bullet to first to get Chandler Simpson, and strikes out Victor Mesa, Jr., who has five strikeouts in 13 plate appearances this series.
With the exception of the Game 3 blowout, every game in this series has been a nail-biter, and tonight is no exception.
With zero margin for error, the Rays turn to reliever Tyler Wells in the 10th inning.
After a lazy flyout from Joey Ortiz, Jackson Chourio stepped to the plate with visions of a World Series MVP award dancing in his head. Chourio squared one up, but it was a line drive straight at center fielder Jonny DeLuca, who barely had to move to make the catch.
A swinging strikeout of Jake Bauers sends Game 4 to the bottom of the 10th.
Aaron Ashby, who entered the ninth inning working on a historic scoreless streak this postseason, quickly ties Andrew Miller’s record of 16 innings without surrendering a run in October with a strikeout of Jonathan Aranda.
He gets Junior Caminero to ground out – with a help in the at bat from William Contreras’ impeccable pitch challenging – to set a new record. One more ground out by Liam Hicks and we are headed to extras!
Either the Rays’ season will end in heartbreakingly close fashion or they’ll stay alive in a walk-off.
Rays closer Bryan Baker was back on the bump for the ninth inning.
After quickly retiring Sal Frelick, Cooper Pratt collected his third hit of the game with a seeing-eye grounder into left field.
Garrett Mitchell gave the Rays’ faithful a scare with a fly ball to deep left, but Chandler Simpson was there to make a leaping catch at the wall.
On a pivotal play, Pratt tried to swipe second base and put himself in scoring position. Pratt was initially called safe, but the play was challenged by the Rays, and after a lengthy replay review, the call was overturned thanks to a great throw from catcher Liam Hicks and an even better tag from second baseman Richie Palacios.
For just the second time this October, a Rays batter challenged a called strike and it worked! He won! It flipped the count from 2-2 to a hitter favorable 3-1…
And then two pitches later he lined out.
The Brewers call on closer Trevor MeGill to get the final out of the frame and he does. Successful challenge aside, the Rays go down in order and we’re headed to the ninth tied.
With Game 4 (and the Rays’ season) hanging in the balance, Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash made the call to the bullpen for his star closer Bryan Baker in the eighth inning.
Baker doesn’t usually pitch for more than a single inning, but after a breezy eight-pitch inning, the big right-hander will likely be back out again in the ninth inning.
The tension is rising as Tampa heads to the plate with another chance to save its season.
Chandler Simpson’s speed keeps the Rays from going down quietly in the bottom of the seventh.
D.L. Hall comes in to pitch for Milwaukee and gets two quick outs. But then Simpson singles on a ground ball that shortstop Cooper Pratt holds on to rather than risk sowing more chaos by trying to beat Simpson with a throw.
The American League stolen base leader draws a pair of pickoff attempts – which should have given him the chance to run freely as the next one would be a balk – but before gets the chance, Victor Mesa, Jr. grounds out to end the inning.
We’re headed to the eighth in a tied game with a championship on the line.
Nick Martinez was back on the mound for the Rays in the seventh inning, with Fox Sports’ commentators speculating that manager Kevin Cash probably hopes to go with the Game 1 starter the rest of the way tonight.
Martinez appears up to the task with a 1-2-3 inning to send Game 4 to the seventh inning stretch.
Both these teams are good. One is probably better. But also, sometimes, the ball bounces your way and sometimes, well, you get doubled off when you desperately need a rally.
Yandy Díaz slaps a soft single to lead off the inning. And then Jonathan Aranda smacks a ball 108.1 mph off the bat. It had an expected batting average of .890.In other words, nearly nine out of ten times a ball hit just like that ball was hit would have cruised into the outfield and the Rays would have two on with no outs.
Not tonight, not against the Brewers.
Instead, Brice Turang, a Gold and Platinum Glove award winner, swiped the ball out of the air and doubled Díaz off at first. Bases empty, two outs. Next batter, Junior Caminero, grounds out to Turang for good measure and to end the inning.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. Enter Nick Martinez – the Rays’ scheduled Game 5 starting pitcher.
After a strong outing as the starter in Game 1, Martinez looked up to the pressure of the moment in his first inning of relief, retiring the Brewers in a scoreless sixth inning marred only by a bloop single from Cooper Pratt.
As for tomorrow? The Rays will cross that bridge when (if?) they come to it.
It’s an annual tradition that means a lot to many – the Game 4 moment in which players and fans of both teams unite, along with nearly everyone else in the stadium, to remember those lost to cancer.
The pause in the game is powerful and provides a soft moment to remember all those affected by such a terrible disease.
Pat Murphy, confident in his team’s ability to make a comeback, is going to his high-leverage arms already.
Abner Uribe comes out of the ‘pen and gets a pair of strikeouts and a soft ground out to sit down the bottom of the order in, well, order.
The game is still tied but that frame made it feel like Milwaukee is in control. Their bullpen – this month especially – is a force to behold.
If the Rays are going to live to play another day, they’ll have to get something going against a relief corps with a 1.34 ERA this postseason.
After a gutsy performance from starting pitcher Griffin Jax, Rays manager Kevin Cash handed the ball over to high-leverage reliever Kevin Kelly.
Kelly made quick work of the rest of the fifth inning, pitching around a two-out walk of Christian Yelich to preserve the tie score as Game 5 reached the midway point.
Brewers’ nine-hole hitter David Hamilton ambushed Griffin Jax with a home run to knot the game at 2-2.
Rays manager Kevin Cash was quick to come out to lift Jax from the game, but four-plus quality innings from a guy who had never started a postseason game before has to be viewed as a successful outing.
