MILWAUKEE – The World Series opener was all about small ball, featuring 12 singles, three stolen bases and no home runs – the first Fall Classic Game 1 without a homer since 2000.
Liam Hicks muscled up and changed that narrative early, belting a two-run homer in the first inning of World Series Game 2 on Saturday evening at American Family Field that helped power the Rays’ early 4-0 lead. Tampa Bay blew that advantage in a 5-4 loss to the Brewers that dropped it into a 2-0 Series hole.
Milwaukee starter Logan Henderson had never permitted more than three runs in any regular-season Major League start. He allowed four runs, two earned, in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.
That changed within the first five batters of the game, with Chandler Simpson and Junior Caminero lacing run-scoring hits ahead of Hicks’ Statcast-projected 411-foot blast to right-center field.
The contest opened with an error, as shortstop Cooper Pratt bounced his throw to first base on Yandy Díaz’s leadoff grounder.
Henderson struck out Jonathan Aranda, but Simpson singled up the middle and Caminero sent a liner down the left-field line to give the Rays their first lead of this Series, responding after Milwaukee put up a pair of first-inning runs in Game 1.
The four runs were the most that Tampa Bay has scored in a World Series inning. The Rays were 75-17 in the regular season when scoring at least four runs this year. They fell to 4-1 in the postseason when scoring four or more.
Teams are now 20-5 in World Series history when scoring four runs or more in the first inning.