ST. PETERSBURG -- Cooper Pratt hit a home run that put the Brewers three outs away from winning the World Series Tuesday night at Tropicana Field.
Then he saw it all get away.
You’d think that hurts for a 22-year-old rookie living out his childhood dream, but after the Brewers' 12-inning, 4-3 loss to the Rays, Pratt was already focused on the proverbial tomorrow. Or in this case, as it was well past midnight, later today.
“I don’t really think it matters,” Pratt said of the particularly cruel way in which Game 4 got away. “I think a loss is a loss. Losing by 10 runs is the same as losing by one run in the 12th. It’s over. It’s done with.”
For a few moments Pratt was on top of the world, having become the first rookie in World Series history with four hits in a potential clincher, according to Elias Sports Bureau, and hitting the latest home run in a potential clinching game in the World Series. There had been four home runs in prior games in the 10th and 11th innings, but never in the 12th or later.
He connected with a 2-2 sweeper from Rays left-hander Ian Seymour and sailed around the bases while the thousands of Brewers fans who had invaded Tropicana Field went wild and his teammates spilled out of the dugout.
“I knew it was gone. It was pretty cool,” said Pratt, who is hitting .333 with an .829 OPS in this postseason. “I don’t really remember much after that, I just know I was screaming. But it’s over.”
Said manager Pat Murphy: “He had a great night at the plate, the best of anybody at the plate. He was really locked in.”
Maybe that explains it, because Seymour was left flummoxed.
“I threw a 2-2 pitch with good metrics and a location that shouldn't probably give up a homer today,” he said. “I don't know what to tell you. I mixed and matched, and he put a better swing on it.”
What was the Rays reliever thinking when his team rallied?
“I'm thinking the boys have my back the way they've had my back all year long, and they proved me right,” Seymour said. “I don’t know if I saw it coming but I believe in this group. We have so much trust and so much love for each other. They pick me up time and time again. And hopefully, I'll get a chance to do it for them too.”
The Brewers’ loss left so much room for “what ifs.” What if Junior Caminero had been called for leaving the baseline before David Hamilton’s run-scoring throwing error back in the fourth inning? What if Pratt had been safe when he tried to steal second base in the ninth with the teams tied? He was initially called safe, only to be out following a long review.
And what if more of the Brewers’ hard contact paid off? They accounted for 12 of the 13 hardest-hit balls of the night and had only three runs.
“We probably didn’t have a lot of the greatest luck,” Pratt said. “But you learn from it. You come back ready to play tomorrow. Nobody said this was going to be easy. They’re a really good team. They proved that all year.”
It’s time to turn the page. Even a rookie has experience with that.
“We’ve been doing it all year,” Pratt said. “They played a heck of a game. That was a really good game on both sides of the ball, and it just went their way today. We have confidence.”