Down 4-0 in the First and Still Up 2-0 in the Series: Frelick and Pratt Turn Milwaukee's Comeback Into a World Series Stranglehold

By Hank Dalton, RF Sports Radio MLB Playoffs voice

Baseball fans, I picked the Rays to tie this series Saturday night, and for about 20 minutes I looked like a genius. Tampa Bay put four on the board in the first inning. Then Milwaukee did what Milwaukee has done all October: it stayed calm, chipped away and took the game.

The facts

The Brewers beat the Rays 5-4 at American Family Field for a 2-0 World Series lead, per the Associated Press. Tampa Bay scored all four of its runs in the first inning, per the Baseball-Reference box score. Milwaukee got two back in the bottom of the first, one in the fourth, one in the sixth and one in the seventh. Sal Frelick tied the game with his first home run in three months, and rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt hit the go-ahead single in the seventh to make up for an earlier error. The Rays did not score again after the first.

Abner Uribe got the win, Tyler Wells took the loss, and Aaron Ashby got a five-out save, giving closer Trevor Megill the night off, per MLB.com. Ashby has not allowed a run in 15 2/3 postseason innings. MLB.com notes Milwaukee also came back from a 4-0 deficit in Game 4 of the NLCS against the Dodgers, and that a reliever has been credited with the win in eight of Milwaukee's nine victories this postseason.

"As long as there's game left, we have a chance, and I think we've all bought into that," Pratt said, per MLB.com. Rays star Junior Caminero pointed to his team's mistakes: "Against Milwaukee, if you give up outs, they're gonna use that against you."

History favors Milwaukee. Of the 57 teams to take a 2-0 World Series lead, 46 have won, per MLB.com. Game 3 is Monday at Tropicana Field, the first World Series game there since 2008. Tampa Bay starts former Brewers ace Freddy Peralta against Milwaukee lefty Robert Gasser, with first pitch at 7 p.m. Central on FOX.

RF Sports Radio's take (opinion)

My take: I got this one wrong, and the reason matters. I thought a four-run first inning would be enough for a Rays staff this good. It was not even close to enough, because this Brewers bullpen is the best thing in baseball right now. Uribe and Ashby are turning six-inning games into five-inning games.

The Rays have lost two games by a combined two runs, and they keep beating themselves with outs on the bases and mistakes in the field. That is fixable. A 2-0 hole is fixable too, but only if Peralta is the guy MLB.com describes, the one who has been nearly unhittable at the Trop since the deadline.

My call: Rays win Game 3 behind Peralta, but Milwaukee still wins the series in six. That is a prediction, not a report.

What to watch next

Peralta against his old team, whether Brandon Woodruff finally appears out of the Milwaukee bullpen, and how the Rays' lineup handles the lefty Gasser. Game 3 is Monday at 7 p.m. Central. For Game 1's replay drama, read Hank's Oct. 24 column on Game 1's ninth-inning reversal, and follow the MLB Playoffs page through the last out.

Radio question: is this Brewers bullpen the best you have seen in a World Series, or is it too early to put it in that class?

Sources: AP News - Frelick, Pratt lift Brewers to 5-4 comeback win over Rays and 2-0 World Series lead; Baseball-Reference - 2026 World Series Game 2 box score; MLB.com - Brewers-Rays World Series Game 3 FAQ.