MILWAUKEE – Rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt made the most of his second opportunity.
Pratt singled in the go-ahead run to atone for a costly error and the Milwaukee Brewers overcame a four-run deficit behind six scoreless innings from their lockdown bullpen for a 5-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday night and a 2-0 lead in the World Series.
The Brewers, who trailed 4-0 in the first inning, took their first lead of Game 2 in the seventh when Brice Turang doubled to open off Tyler Wells (0-2) and advanced on a flyout. Pratt greeted Kevin Kelly with an RBI single to right to put Milwaukee up 5-4.
“I need to be better defensively, but it’s always awesome when you have an opportunity to kind of redeem yourself and make up for it,” said the 22-year-old Pratt, inserted into the starting lineup after being called up from Triple-A Nashville in mid-June. “Probably wasn’t the best swing, but it did the job and gave us the opportunity to score a run. I’m not going to complain.”
The Rays stranded the tying run at third in the ninth for the second consecutive game. Jonny DeLuca doubled to open the ninth off Aaron Ashby, who got the final two outs in the eighth. Victor Mesa Jr. struck out and DeLuca advanced to third on a groundout, but Yandy Diaz struck out swinging on a 3-2 count.
“It’s tough for teams to come in here and play. Our fans are so incredible. It’s a tough environment to play in,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “Tampa Bay had us on the ropes every day. They had runners in scoring position when the game ended both days.”
Game 3 of the best-of-seven series is Monday in St. Petersburg, Fla. Only 10 teams have overcome a 2-0 deficit to win the World Series, the last being the New York Yankees in 1996.
“These Milwaukee fans have been really loud. I know our fans are going to be really loud and excited to see us come back and kind of reset ourselves a little bit,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “We’ve got a really good pitcher going, as do they. A lot of confidence in this club to respond. They’ve done it all season long, and they’ll continue to do it.”
Brewers starter Logan Henderson allowed four runs (three earned) on three hits in three innings, but the bullpen picked up its eighth win in nine postseason victories. The eight wins match the 2015 Kansas City Royals for most wins by relievers in a single postseason.
JoJo Romero, Dustin May and DL Hall each followed Henderson with a scoreless inning. Abner Uribe (1-0) got four outs and Ashby finished for his third save. Ashby has not allowed a run in 15 2/3 innings over eight postseason appearances.
“Our bullpen doesn’t get enough credit,” Murphy said. “I guess it does get a lot of credit, but you can’t say enough great things about them. Six innings of shutout (work) again.”
Sal Frelick tied it at 4-all with a leadoff homer in the sixth off Ian Seymour. Frelick, who had four homers in 339 at-bats during the regular season, lined a 3-2 fastball 408 feet to center for his second career postseason homer.
Milwaukee cut its 4-0 deficit in half with two runs in the bottom of the first, then capitalized on an error to pull within 4-3 in the fourth.
Milwaukee threatened in the eighth, but Jackson Chourio was retired home trying to score from third on an infield bouncer on a close play that was upheld upon review.
The Brewers, whose only other World Series appearance was as the American League representative in a seven-game loss to St. Louis in 1982, also overcame a 4-0 deficit in the NLCS, rallying for a 6-4 victory over the Dodgers in Game 4 to complete the sweep.
Pratt’s game-opening error contributed to the Rays’ four-run first. Diaz continued to second on Pratt’s errant throw from short, then scored on Chandler Simpson’s one-out single. Simpson stole second and scored on Junior Caminero’s RBI single. Liam Hicks followed with his first postseason homer to put the Rays up 4-0.
The Brewers bunched four singles for two runs in the bottom half, including RBI singles by William Contreras and Garrett Mitchell.
Milwaukee pulled within 4-3 in the fourth. Pratt battled back from an 0-2 count to draw a one-out walk, advanced to third on Frelick’s single and scored on first baseman Jonathan Aranda’s fielding error.
Chourio prevented a run when his perfect throw home from left field nailed Hicks trying to score from second to end the sixth. That play was also upheld after a review.
Rays starter Drew Rasmussen, who was 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA in three previous starts this postseason, allowed three runs on six hits in 3 2/3 innings.
–Jim Hoehn, Field Level Media
