ST. PETERSBURG -- The top of the fifth inning looked like it was over.
Christian Yelich had been called out sliding into second base on a fielder’s choice, the Rays were moving off the field, and Tropicana Field’s warning track was being prepared for a mascot race.
Then the Brewers challenged, and Game 3 of the World Series was never the same.
When Yelich was ruled safe, the Rays’ rally crew cleared the field for play to resume. Raymond, DJ Kitty and Stinger eventually took that lap, but not before Milwaukee stunned the crowd with a sprinting exhibition unlike any in Fall Classic history en route to a 10-1 victory.
“It was just good at-bat after good at-bat after good at-bat,” Yelich said.
The Brewers became the first team to have seven consecutive batters get hits in a postseason game, producing eight two-out runs.
Here are four takeaways as Milwaukee sits one victory from the first championship in franchise history.
Reverse the curse?
The Brewers have had the upper hand throughout this Fall Classic, churning with machine-like efficiency. Winners of a Major League-best 103 regular-season games and 10 more in the postseason, Pat Murphy’s squad hasn’t lost since Game 3 of the National League Division Series in San Diego, back on Oct. 6.
“When they tap us on the shoulder and say you’ve got no more games, that’s when we’ll be like, ‘All right, we can go home now,’” Sal Frelick said.
As opponents have learned all too often, if you give the Brewers extra outs, you’re likely to pay a heavy price. So what kind of history are the Rays up against? Only one team has come back from a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series: the 2004 Red Sox, who rallied after losing the first three games of their American League Championship Series against the Yankees.
In the World Series, no team has made it as far as Game 6 after being in a 3-0 hole.
Of the 43 prior teams to trail a best-of-seven postseason series 3-0, 10 have come back to force a fifth game. Four pushed it to six games, and only one other reached seven: the 2020 Astros, who lost Game 7 of the ALCS to the Rays. Perhaps a guest speaking engagement from David Ortiz or Kevin Millar should be in order -- both were in the building for Game 3.
“It’s three-nothing now, but it starts tomorrow,” Yandy Díaz said. “We’ve got to win that one game that we have tomorrow and go from there."
Freeze frame
With the Rays already trailing by two runs, they couldn’t afford to fall further behind. With Yelich ruled safe at second base on the fielder’s choice, Cam Booser relieved Freddy Peralta, assigned to handle a bases-loaded, two-out jam.
That was the game, and it turned right there.
Brice Turang knocked a two-run single off Taylor Walls’ glove, Garrett Mitchell stroked an RBI single, Cooper Pratt banged a two-run double -- and the Brew Crew just kept on hitting. Booser faced four batters, retired none, and Cole Sulser allowed a couple of run-scoring hits before Jake Bauers flied out to end the carnage.
Perhaps it all could’ve been avoided if Caminero threw to first base rather than making the shorter toss to second. A wide-angle television shot seemed to suggest he might have had a play on William Contreras, lumbering down the baseline.
The Rays will always wonder.
“Things just seem to be going their way right now, so I don't know what else we can do,” Booser said. “Just unfortunate.”
‘Gas’ me up
If there were any questions about Robert Gasser's ability to handle a hostile environment, this postseason has answered them convincingly.
All three of Gasser’s starts have come on the road, and he mastered each assignment, limiting the Padres, Dodgers and Rays to one run over a combined 15 innings. The outings at Petco Park and Dodger Stadium were good; this was great.
Díaz greeted Gasser with a leadoff single, the only hit Tampa Bay managed off the left-hander, who faced the minimum through six innings. Gasser issued one walk, struck out three, and handed the bullpen a 10-run lead on just 75 pitches.
The southpaw was the ninth pitcher to hurl at least six scoreless innings in the World Series while permitting one or zero hits, and the first since the Astros’ Cristian Javier threw six no-hit frames in Game 4 of the 2022 World Series.
“We're going to enjoy tonight,” Gasser said. “It was a great team win, but we’ve got work to do. There's still one more game to go for us to win, and I know everybody's eager to do it. We’re going to show up tomorrow ready to go.”
Started from the top
Milwaukee’s attack was a true team effort, with eight of the nine batters in the starting lineup registering hits, and it all started with Jackson Chourio.
Chourio registered his ninth career multihit postseason game, tying Andruw Jones for the most before turning 23. He didn’t quit after two hits, either; stroking singles in his first three at-bats, Chourio capped the fifth-inning damage with an RBI double off Sulser.
“I think that you could say this is one of my better games,” Chourio said. “Really, I was just taking every at-bat like it could be my last, and trying to find any way I could to get on base. Because I know, as long as I get on base, there's guys behind me who could [drive me in].”
At 22 years and 229 days, Chourio is the second-youngest player in World Series history with four hits and a stolen base in a game. The other? Ty Cobb in Game 3 of the 1908 Series (21 years, 299 days).
The first four batters in Milwaukee’s lineup combined for nine of the club’s 16 hits, including Contreras, who finished 3-for-5.