After costly errors sink Brewers, they hope Miz can provide title-winning bounceback

ST. PETERSBURG -- Joey Ortiz sat at his locker in a quiet clubhouse and got dressed. While he did, Jake Bauers, who was on the other end of the play that sent Game 4 of the World Series spiraling in the wrong direction at a time the Brewers were only three outs away from what they’d dreamed of from the first day they picked up a baseball, put a hand on his teammate’s shoulder.

They talked for a moment. Then they went their separate ways, determined to come back Wednesday to try again.

“We both said, ‘My bad,’” said Bauers, who has been the Brewers’ voice of zen for much of this season. “I’m sure he doesn’t feel great right now. I don’t feel great right now, but you know what? Just keep going. Show up tomorrow and play a baseball game.”

Here’s the good news: They still lead the World Series, three games to one. And they will play Game 5 with their ace, Jacob Misiorowski, on the mound.

The 24-year-old presumptive National League Cy Young Award winner will get a chance to pitch the Brewers to the promised land after the Rays shrugged off rookie Cooper Pratt’s go-ahead home run in the top of the 12th inning and used Ortiz’s throwing error leading off the bottom of the inning as the springboard for a two-run rally and a walkoff, 4-3 win over the Brewers on Tuesday at Tropicana Field.

Of the four previous teams that forced a Game 5 after falling into a 3-0 deficit, none has ever made it as far as Game 6. The Brewers and Misiorowski will try to keep it that way.

“I think you just build on it,” Misiorowski said of Tuesday’s disappointment. “You understand what you did right, what you did wrong, and move on to the game tomorrow.”​

Misiorowski was in the bullpen for the final innings of Game 4 but was never going to pitch in relief, manager Pat Murphy said. The situation wasn’t right to risk using him and losing the opportunity to start him on four days of rest in the event the series extended to a Game 5.

Now, that’s just what Misiorowski and the Brewers face.

“You can't blow that type of situation on a one-run lead on the road,” Murphy said. “If we were in the 13th inning and we had a three-run lead, that might have been a little bit different. Probably still wouldn't have.”

• 18 straight 0's: Ashby makes playoff history with record scoreless relief streak

As a result, they will have Misiorowski for whatever they need, though his tank has to be getting close to empty after 188 innings in the regular season and postseason so far. That’s quite a toll for a pitcher with a 104 mph fastball. Misiorowski is 1-0 with a 2.70 ERA in his three Game 1 starts in this postseason against the Padres, Dodgers and Rays, and he allowed one run on four hits in five innings of World Series Game 1.

His Game 5 outing will mark only the seventh time in Misiorowski’s two-year career, regular season and postseason, that he starts on four days of rest -- what was once considered “normal” rest. Of his first 44 starts during the regular season, he has started six times on four days’ rest (2.03 ERA), 23 times on five days’ rest (2.45 ERA) and 15 times on six or more days’ rest (2.75 ERA). All three of his postseason starts have come on at least five days of rest.

“It’s nothing new,” he said. “I’m used to it in the Minor Leagues going Tuesday-Sunday, so this isn’t a new phenomenon.”

It will be a test of the Brewers’ ability to shrug off a loss, something they have done only one other time in the past 35 days. That was the transition from a loss to the Padres in NLDS Game 3 to a win in Game 4, capping a scintillating series in which the two teams were within two runs throughout.

Tuesday’s Game 4 was that kind of night. The Brewers trailed, 1-0 and 2-1, and led, 3-2, in their first extra-innings affair of this postseason. That stretched the pitching thin, especially since Trevor Megill was used for only one batter at the end of the eighth. With Misiorowski only a decoy, Murphy and pitching coordinator Jim Henderson tried to navigate the 12th with Antonio Senzatela beginning a second inning of work while pitching for the second straight day.

It didn’t work out. Rays star Junior Caminero led off with a bouncer to deep third base, where Ortiz, a mid-game entry, fielded it. He’s one of the Brewers’ surest defenders, but he bounced the throw and Bauers couldn’t pick it.

“There’s no excuse,” Ortiz said. “Not one at all. I should make that play every [bleeping] time.”

Said Brewers third-base coach and infield guru Matt Erickson: “There's not a person on the field I want the ball hit to more than him."

It was the second costly error of the night from third base for the Crew. Back in the fourth inning, the starter, David Hamilton, tried to tag Caminero going from second to third base on a bouncer and missed. The Brewers believed Caminero left the baseline, but they didn’t get the call. Then Hamilton misfired the throw and Caminero scored a run that proved a backbreaker in the end.

But as much as that one hurt, it didn’t happen with a World Series title just three outs away. Because of the Ortiz misplay, rookie Shane Drohan inherited a runner on base in his World Series debut. He never got an out. The Rays hit four straight singles and won it on Ben Williamson’s pinch-hit single to shallow right field.

That was especially cutting, because Brewers hitters scalded baseballs all night with little to show for it. They accounted for 12 of the 13 hardest-hit balls of the night and had only three runs.

Still, they were three outs away from winning the World Series. And now they have to try again.

“You’ve got to battle through some hard things, right?” Christian Yelich said. “You’re going to face hard stuff. You know that going into it. We’ve talked about that a lot as a group, how it’s supposed to be hard. This stuff is not supposed to be easy. It’s supposed to test you.

“We would have loved to get it done tonight, but it’s not a surprise that you have to dig deep and find a way to get it done.”