Eight Two-Out Runs Later, Brewers Are One Win Away From First-Ever World Series Title

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Years from now, when someone wants to remember this relentless, unstoppable, relentless Milwaukee drive that’s one win away from immortality, point them to the fifth inning of Game 3 of the World Series.

The Brewers don’t just win games. They beat their opponents to exhaustion, then break their will. They work the numbers tenaciously, eliminate players quickly, put the ball in play repeatedly and punish mistakes with force. Sometimes, as they did Monday night in a two-game rally for the record books that gave them a 3-0 lead in the Fall Classic, they do it all at once.

Now, after a 10-1 demolition of the Rays at Tropicana Field, they are one win away from celebrating their franchise’s first World Series title, with four chances to complete it.

“I don’t think it will ever sink in that we’re so close,” pitcher Jacob Misiorowski told me.

Milwaukee demands excellence from its foes, and even then it’s usually not enough, considering the Brewers’ ability to erase deficits in the blink of an eye and suffocate opponents with their shutout bullpen. They’ve trailed in all but two of their 11 playoff games and still won 10 of them.

Play anything less than flawless baseball, or give them extra opportunities to work — or any openings at all — and the game could be over before those high-powered weapons need to be deployed. Tampa Bay learned that the hard way Monday night, when the Brewers scored more runs with two outs in the fifth inning than Tampa Bay has scored all series.

Misiorowski, the eventual National League Cy Young Award winner, watched from the top step of the dugout as the contest unfolded, hit after hit after hit, often with one foot on top of the railing to celebrate each occasion.

The Brewers took a 2-0 lead with runners on first and second when catcher Wlliam Contreras snapped a ball to Rays third baseman Junior Caminero in what appeared to be the end of a scoreless frame. Caminero tried to go to second base instead of throwing to first. Christian Yelich grounded to second and was initially thrown out, before the call was overturned on review.

“The whole game changed when Yeli was safe at second,” manager Pat Murphy said. “That’s just a hustle game. When your leader makes that play, it says it all. The game changed because he did one little thing that anybody can do.”

Six batters later, the Brewers led 10-0. They became the first team to score at least 10 runs in a World Series game without hitting a home run since the 2014 San Francisco Giants.

It was Brewers ball at its best.

“I was just amazed that our guys are doing it in the World Series, the biggest stage,” Misiorowski told me. “Obviously, we’ve seen it all year. That’s just what we do. One guy gets hot, all of a sudden, the whole team is hot.”

The Brewers had the most hits and RBIs with runners in scoring position in the majors this season. However, what happened on Monday night was historic.

The eight runs scored were the most ever by a team with two hits in a single inning of a World Series game. Their seven consecutive two-run hits were the most in postseason history.

“Here we go again,” Brewers manager Daniel Vogelbach thought as the inning wore on. “I’ve seen it happen. This team, they can have one hit left and believe they’re still in it. We’ve done that with two outs so much this year. They value every game and know it can happen quickly when you put together good at-bats. They’ve done it all year.”

After Contreras’ single loaded the bases, Rays manager Kevin Cash turned to lefty Cam Booser. Opponents were 2-for-26 with runners in scoring position against lefties during the regular season and 0-for-9 with men on base in the postseason against him.

It didn’t matter.

The Rays had another chance to end the threat, but a scorching 106 mph fly off the bat of Brice Turang blew off the glove of Taylor Walls to bring in two runs.

From there, the doors opened.

“Especially in the postseason, you’re never really satisfied, no matter how many runs you’re scoring,” outfielder Garrett Mitchell told me. “You still have to go out there and compete. You can’t give them a chance. It’s the World Series. It’s the best team in the American League. They can do that, too. You can’t take your foot off the gas.”

So they didn’t.

Mitchell followed with a single. Cooper Pratt and Sal Frelick then doubled, David Hamilton singled and Jackson Chourio recorded his fourth hit of the night.

Chourio had two hits in just the fifth inning. The Rays, up to that point, had a shot as a team.

The Brewers have demonstrated their ability throughout October to make close games. To finally get some breathing room felt good. It also had another effect that will flow into a potential World Series Game 4: They saved all of their high-leverage arms.

“It’s just nice when an offense can do that and you give your ball a break,” Vogelbach said. “Our team has thrown a lot. They’ve been outstanding. In a game like this, being able to give them some rest is always a plus.”

By the time Caminero threw a ball away in the sixth inning, there was no more air inside the building to vent. The only noise inside Tropicana Field was the cheering of the Brewers faithful, most of whom had packed into Milwaukee Mitchell International and Chicago O’Hare the day before for Tampa, ready to witness history.

Brewers players could make their presence felt throughout the night, from batting practice to the final pitch, noting that it felt more like a home game.

“I’m not sure if it was 60/40, 50/50,” Mitchell said, “all I know is the Brewers fans were loud.”

Their cheers grew in the ninth, when the man who embodies Brewers tenacity, perhaps better than anyone, walked out of the box.

Brandon Woodruff, the veteran pitcher whose season was supposed to be over, had made the World Series roster against all odds, his shoulder good enough to go.

The Brewers’ longest-tenured player had endured all the personal and team highs and lows of the last decade of Milwaukee baseball to get to this point, and he felt he had finally reached a place where he could contribute. There was talk he could serve as the starter for Game 4, but when he saw his coach running out to see how he was doing in the eighth Monday night, he knew he was ready to take the ball.

In his first appearance since July 4 and his first postseason appearance in five years, all he could think about was throwing the ball over the plate. He finished the game that would have put his Brewers one win away from their first World Series title, but he didn’t take long to reflect on the trip.

“We’ve got to win one more game,” Woodruff said. “Then we will do a real reflection.”