Wednesday, October 28, 2026 — three outs from elimination, the Rays found one more night.
The Rays beat the Brewers 4-3 in 12 innings at Tropicana Field on Tuesday night, avoiding a sweep and cutting Milwaukee’s World Series lead to 3-1. Ben Williamson’s bases-loaded single into right field ended a 4-hour, 20-minute game. Tampa Bay is the 44th team to face an 0-3 deficit in a World Series and only the 11th to force a Game 5.
A Long, Tense Night
The Rays twice took a lead and twice lost it, and the game sat tied 2-2 from the fifth inning through the 12th. One Tampa Bay run came on a Brewers miscue, when third baseman David Hamilton missed a tag on Junior Caminero and then threw wide of first.
Both bullpens were superb. Brice Turang turned a key double play, Chandler Simpson made a leaping catch at the left-field wall and a Cooper Pratt stolen base in the ninth was overturned on review. Aaron Ashby extended his record to 18 straight scoreless postseason innings in relief. Nick Martinez, scheduled to start Game 5, pitched two scoreless innings for the Rays out of the bullpen.
The 12th
Milwaukee finally broke through when Pratt led off the top of the 12th with a solo homer off Ian Seymour. Seymour then limited the damage, retiring Jake Bauers with a runner on second to keep it a one-run game. “We’ve got one more day,” he said afterward.
In the bottom half, Joey Ortiz’s throw bounced off Bauers’ glove at first, putting Caminero aboard. Liam Hicks singled him to third, and Jonny DeLuca’s grounder up the middle tied it. After Simpson singled to load the bases against Shane Drohan, Williamson bounced the winning hit into right.
“We pieced together a big inning, maybe the most important inning of our season,” Kevin Cash said.
Still a Long Way to Go
The Rays still have to win three more in a row, and Game 5 is again in St. Petersburg before the series would return to Milwaukee. Before the game, general manager Erik Neander put it simply: the Rays needed to win an inning first. They did — and now they need to win another night.
The Read
Only one team has ever come back from 0-3 in a best-of-seven series. The Rays are a long way from that, but they showed they won’t go quietly. For Milwaukee, a celebration put on hold is a reminder of how hard the final win can be.
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