MILWAUKEE – They call it the Good Land, full of friendly strangers and easygoing souls.
But boy, it will turn on you in a hurry if you come here trying to beat their Brewers.
The National League champs didn’t so much overpower or overwhelm the Tampa Bay Rays in these first two games of the World Series at American Family Field. The Brewers just tormented their visitors with that rare double-ending in the opener, then crafted a compelling, soul-stomping comeback in a 5-4 win in Game 2 on Saturday night.
After shaking off a 4-0 deficit for the second time in as many postseason rounds with the help of a game-tying homer from Sal Frelick in the sixth and a go-ahead, opposite-field RBI single from rookie Cooper Pratt in the seventh, the Brew Crew has a commanding 2-0 lead in this best-of-seven.
It’s an edge that, in 55 identical advantages in previous Fall Classics, teams have converted into a crown 80.7% of the time.
Math, momentum and, in these two electric evenings under the hood of the Brewers’ cavernous confines, volume have all been on the side of the Brewers so far. So was the game-ending check swing strike called against Rays DH Yandy Díaz with the tying run at third in the ninth.
The Series will shift to St. Petersburg, where far fewer Brewer backers reside. But so far this matchup has been marked by the Brewers playing with clear confidence and the Rays making far too many mistakes.
Strange, too, because the Rays came into Game 2 with their ace and their best bullpen arms all rested and ready. Then they came out swinging with a four-spot in the first, quickly reminding us all that nothing is to be assumed in a Series of similarly styled squads.
Again, though, the Good Land can become, as Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy’s hero Bruce Springsteen puts it, the “Badlands” for anyone trying to get in the way of this team’s search for a franchise-first title.
Facing the magnificently mustachioed Brewers rookie right-hander Logan Henderson, the Rays went up 1-0 on a Chandler Simpson ground-ball single that scored leadoff man Díaz from second, 2-0 on a Junior Caminero single after Simpson swiped second, then 4-0 on the first home run of this Series – a 411-foot blast to right-center field off the bat of catcher Liam Hicks.
That’ll rake you up.
Unfortunately, the early advantage wasn’t as safe in the hands of staff ace Drew Rasmussen as one would have thought. Instead, Tampa Bay received Rasmussen’s shortest start in months (3 2/3 innings) and plenty of fodder for the enthusiastic home crowd to crank up the volume yet again.
The Brewers’ bounceback began right away, in the bottom of the first. Leadoff man Jackson Chourio and No. 2 hitter Jake Bauers ripped singles in rapid succession to put runners on the corners. One out later, William Contreras bounced one up the middle, past the outstretched glove of second baseman Richie Palacios, in an expertly executed hit-and-run that scored Chourio. Later, with two out, Garrett Mitchell smacked a base hit to right to cut the Rays’ lead in half at 4-2.
Milwaukee was back at it in the fourth, with a Pratt walk and Frelick single again putting runners on the corners. David Hamilton lunged at a low changeup and sent it bounding down the first-base line, right under the glove of first baseman Jonathan Aranda. Pratt pranced home and everyone was safe on the Aranda error, a costly defensive miscue by a Rays team ordinarily unaccustomed to relinquishing runs in such a way. Just like that, it was a one-run game, 4-3.
American Family Field’s loudest noises yet were saved for the sixth. Frelick led off against fellow lefty Ian Seymour. The same Frelick who hit one solitary swat off southpaws in 98 plate appearances in the regular season.
In a hard-fought at-bat that stretched the count full, Seymour’s ninth offering was a four-seamer that caught too much of the middle, and Frelick pounced with a titanic shot to center. It was a game-changer and a stadium-shaker, knotting the score at 4 as Brewers fans jumped and roared and slapped hands with strangers.
Though the Brewers missed their chance to put the game away later in the inning, when Contreras grounded into the final out with two aboard, what began to feel like an inevitable outcome arrived in the seventh. Brice Turang doubled off Tyler Wells and advanced to third when Mitchell’s deep fly to right was run down by the rangy Victor Mesa Jr. The Rays summoned the righty Kevin Kelly to face the right-handed-hitting Pratt, who slapped a sinker away into the right-field grass and, along with the faithful in the stands, let out a primal roar after safely reaching first with the go-ahead RBI.
Though denied an insurance run when Chourio was called out on a collision play at the plate in the eighth and given a scare when the Rays got the tying run within 90 feet of home against the rubber-armed Aaron Ashby in the ninth, the Brewers held on.
And if they keep playing like this, they might return to the Good Land as world champs.