Brewers one win from title after 10-1 rout of Rays

The Milwaukee Brewers need one more victory to claim their first World Series championship. They routed the Tampa Bay Rays 10-1 on Monday night at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, extending their winning streak to eight straight games. That run ties the record for the most consecutive wins in a single postseason.

The decisive moment arrived in the fifth inning when Milwaukee scored eight runs. All eight runs were scored with two outs, a first in World Series history. The rally began after Jackson Chourio stole second base. William Contreras followed with an infield single that loaded the bases. Brice Turang then hit a two-run single after the ball bounced off shortstop Taylor Walls' glove.

Garrett Mitchell, Cooper Pratt, and Sal Frelick added runs with consecutive hits to extend the lead to 8-0. Robert Gasser, a rookie left-hander, pitched the first six innings. He faced the minimum number of batters and allowed only one hit. Gasser became the first starter to face 18 batters through six innings of a World Series game since Curt Schilling in 2001. He is also the first left-hander to achieve this feat since Sandy Koufax in 1965.

Chourio finished the game with four hits in five at-bats. He became the second-youngest player in World Series history to record four hits and a stolen base in a single game. Only Ty Cobb in 1908 is younger in that category. Manager Pat Murphy praised Chourio's focus, noting that the player has eight hits in three Series games. Chourio said he treated every at-bat as if it could be his last.

The Rays fell behind 3-0 in this best-of-seven series. Only one team in major league history has ever recovered from such a deficit: the 2004 Boston Red Sox. Rays manager Kevin Cash described the situation as a chip and a chair mentality. He said the team must win Game 4 to stay alive. Tampa Bay led the American League with 98 regular-season wins and swept the New York Yankees in the Division Series.

Milwaukee led the majors with 103 wins. The team beat the San Diego Padres in four games in the Division Series and swept the Los Angeles Dodgers in the League Championship Series. A win in Game 4 would make the Brewers the first team to sweep both the LCS and the World Series since the 1976 Cincinnati Reds. The franchise has not won a title since its move from Seattle in 1970.

The Rays' pitching staff struggled. Freddy Peralta, the American League Championship Series MVP, allowed five runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings. Kevin Cash said Peralta felt good but struggled with consistency in the strike zone. The Rays also made defensive errors and base-running mistakes in the first two games of the series in Milwaukee.

Brandon Woodruff pitched the ninth inning for Milwaukee. He allowed one run and two hits in his first appearance in 3 1/2 months. Woodruff had been sidelined by a shoulder injury that originally required surgery. The Brewers have not announced a starting pitcher for Game 4. The Rays will start Griffin Jax.

Game 4 is scheduled for Tuesday night. The attendance was 40,388, a sellout. Many Brewers fans traveled to Tropicana Field and cheered from behind the visitors' dugout. Gasser noted the support felt like having 20,000 people behind them on the road. The Rays have never won a World Series in 29 seasons, having lost to the Phillies in 2008 and the Dodgers in 2020.

The Brewers led the majors with 103 wins in the regular season. They have won eight straight games in the postseason. The Rays led the American League with 98 wins. Tampa Bay swept the Yankees in three games in the Division Series and beat the Cleveland Guardians in six games in the ALCS. The series stands at 3-1 in favor of Milwaukee.