A four-run hole and a steady climb back
Tampa Bay opened Game 2 at American Family Field by punishing Milwaukee rookie Logan Henderson. Chandler Simpson and Junior Caminero each delivered run-scoring singles, and Liam Hicks followed with a home run to right-center, his first in the postseason, to put the Rays 4-0 up in the first inning. It was the highest-scoring opening frame in a World Series game since 1993, with the two clubs combining for seven hits.[S1][S2][S3]
Milwaukee answered in the bottom half against Tampa Bay ace Drew Rasmussen. Jackson Chourio and Jake Bauers singled back to back, and after Christian Yelich struck out, William Contreras brought Chourio home on a hit-and-run. Garrett Mitchell then plated Bauers to halve the deficit at 4-2. An error by Jonathan Aranda at first base let Cooper Pratt score in the fourth, trimming the gap to one run.[S1][S2][S3]
Frelick ties it, Pratt puts Milwaukee ahead
Sal Frelick had not homered in 103 plate appearances since 11 July, and had not gone deep off a left-hander since opening day. In the sixth he ended that drought, finishing a nine-pitch at-bat against Ian Seymour by driving a fastball over the center-field fence to level the score at 4-4. The home run traveled 408 feet.[S1][S2][S3]
In the seventh, Brice Turang doubled on the second pitch from reliever Tyler Wells, moved up on Mitchell's flyout to right, and scored when Pratt looped a sinker from Kevin Kelly into short right field. That made it 5-4. Earlier in the sixth, Tampa Bay's Chandler Simpson dropped a fly ball on a diving attempt, leaving runners at the corners, but the Rays escaped when Contreras grounded out.[S1][S2][S3]
Bullpen holds and a costly out at the plate
Milwaukee's relief corps closed the door, throwing six scoreless innings while allowing four hits and two walks with 10 strikeouts. Abner Uribe earned the win with one and one-third hitless innings. Aaron Ashby, who has three saves this postseason without surrendering a run, worked the ninth, striking out Victor Mesa Jr. and Yandy Diaz, both on checked swings, around a lead-off double by Jonny DeLuca and a pinch-hit groundout by Ben Williamson.[S1][S3]
Tampa Bay hurt itself on the bases and in the field. In the fifth, third-base coach Brady Williams sent Liam Hicks home on Mesa's single to shallow left, and Chourio threw him out at the plate by a wide margin to end the inning. The Rays finished with one error and two other misplays that could have been charged as errors. In the eighth, Chourio was thrown out at home; Milwaukee challenged, and the review upheld the call.[S1][S2][S3]
What the numbers say and what comes next
The victory was Milwaukee's seventh straight and its seventh comeback win of this postseason, and it marked the second time in these playoffs that the Brewers erased a four-run deficit, after doing so against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series. Of the 57 prior teams to lead a World Series 2-0, 46 went on to win it; the last club to lose the first two games and still take the title was the New York Yankees in 1996.[S1][S3]
Game 3 is scheduled for Monday, 26 October, at Tropicana Field in St Petersburg, Florida, followed by Game 4 on 27 October. Milwaukee last played at the ballpark in 2023. The Brewers are two wins from their first championship and from becoming the ninth National League club to sweep an American League opponent in the World Series.[S1][S3]
