Brewers Rout Rays 10-1, One Win From World Series

The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 10-1 on Monday night and lead the World Series 3-0. One more win would give the franchise its first title. Game 4 is Tuesday night at Tropicana Field, where many Brewers fans showed up for Game 3 and cheered from behind the visitors' dugout.

Rookie left-hander Robert Gasser allowed one hit and faced the minimum through six innings. Yandy Diaz singled to open the bottom of the first, and Gasser then retired 14 in a row. A caught stealing and a double play kept the count at 18 batters. No starter had done that in a World Series game since Arizona's Curt Schilling in 2001, and no left-hander since Sandy Koufax in 1965. Gasser is also the first Milwaukee starter to record an out in the sixth inning this postseason. He has given up one run in 15 innings over three starts, all on the road.

An eight-run fifth

The game was close until the fifth, after two one-run games in Milwaukee. Jackson Chourio started the rally with a one-out single and stole second. Christian Yelich walked, and William Contreras' infield single loaded the bases, which ended the night for starter Freddy Peralta. A forceout at second was overturned on replay review.

Brice Turang then hit a liner that Rays shortstop Taylor Walls could not field cleanly. It rolled into shallow centre and two runs scored. Garrett Mitchell added an RBI single, Cooper Pratt a two-run double down the left-field line and Sal Frelick an RBI double for 8-0. Milwaukee had seven straight hits with two outs, a postseason record.

Chourio finished 4-for-5 and added an RBI double and a stolen base. Only Ty Cobb in 1908 was younger when he had four hits and a stolen base in a World Series game. Contreras went 3-for-5. Milwaukee had 16 hits against Peralta and five relievers. Peralta, the MVP of the ALCS against Cleveland, was charged with five runs in four and two-thirds innings against his former team.

It was Milwaukee's eighth straight postseason win and its fourth in a row on the road. Of 25 earlier teams to take a 3-0 lead in the World Series, 21 swept and four won in five games. Only the 2004 Boston Red Sox have come back from 3-0 down in a best-of-seven postseason series among 43 teams.

The Brewers led the majors with 103 wins, beat the Padres in four games in the NLDS and swept the Dodgers in the NLCS. A win in Game 4 would make them the first team since the 1976 Cincinnati Reds to sweep an LCS and a World Series. The Rays led the American League with 98 wins. A sellout crowd of 40,388 was at the game. The Brewers began as the Seattle Pilots in 1969 and have reached the World Series once before, losing to St Louis in Game 7 in 1982. Manager Pat Murphy is 67.

Source: The Guardian