ST. PETERSBURG – Milwaukee was three outs from its first World Series championship when Tampa Bay found the rally that had eluded it all series. Ben Williamson finished it with a pinch-hit single to right field, bringing home Nick Fortes and sending the Rays back onto the field for another game instead of into the offseason.
The Rays won Game 4, 4–3 in 12 innings, at Tropicana Field on Tuesday night. Milwaukee still leads the best-of-seven series 3–1. Its opportunity to finish a sweep disappeared in an inning that began with the Brewers holding their first lead of the night. Milwaukee reached this series by completing a four-game NLCS sweep of the Dodgers.
Cooper Pratt had supplied that lead with a solo home run in the top of the 12th. The rookie shortstop’s drive put Milwaukee ahead 3–2 and turned the bottom half into a potential championship inning. Instead, the Rays reached base five straight times, changing both the result and the demands on two pitching staffs that had already worked deep into the night.
The distinction matters beyond the final score. Tampa Bay has not erased Milwaukee’s series advantage, but it has denied the Brewers their cleanest route to the title: one final shutdown inning with no further game to manage. Game 5 is scheduled for Wednesday at 8 p.m. Eastern at Tropicana Field, according to MLB’s account of the Rays’ victory.
Junior Caminero reached on a throwing error to begin the escape. Cedric Mullins replaced him as a pinch-runner, and Liam Hicks singled. With Shane Drohan on the mound, Jonny DeLuca followed with the hit that brought Mullins home and tied the game. A chance to close out a championship had become a contest Milwaukee could no longer end with a single out.
Chandler Simpson then singled to load the bases. Williamson came off the bench and sent a ground ball into right, scoring Fortes, another pinch-runner. Tampa Bay’s winning inning was not built around matching Pratt’s power. It accumulated baserunners, used its bench and kept the next hitter’s opportunity alive until one ball through the infield ended the night.
That is the central contrast in this Game 4. Milwaukee produced the swing that looked decisive; Tampa Bay produced the sequence that actually decided it. Pratt’s home run deserved its place as the night’s apparent turning point, but the Rays still had a half-inning in which to answer. The difference between a potential title-winning homer and a championship was three outs the Brewers could not obtain.
Pratt had done considerably more than deliver that late drive. Earlier, his double scored Sal Frelick from first base to draw Milwaukee level after Tampa Bay had struck first. FOX Sports’ game coverage reported that Pratt became the first rookie with four hits in a potential World Series clincher. That performance remained exceptional even after the celebration it nearly triggered was postponed.
David Hamilton also helped keep Milwaukee in the game. His solo homer tied it at 2–2 after the Rays had regained the lead on a play involving Caminero’s evasion of a tag and a subsequent throwing error. The score then held through the end of regulation and two more innings before Pratt broke the deadlock. Neither side had a comfortable margin to protect.
Tampa Bay’s early advantage came from Simpson’s RBI double off Milwaukee starter Dustin May, scoring DeLuca from first. Griffin Jax started for the Rays. By the time Williamson batted, the game had become a much different test from the opening matchup: relievers, replacement runners and a pinch-hitter were determining whether the series would continue.
Both finalists had already featured in the MLB payroll and salary-cap debate, with their postseason runs showing that lower-spending clubs could reach the closing rounds. That broader argument does not change the immediate imbalance: Tampa Bay still needs three wins while Milwaukee needs one.
Milwaukee entered the night after a 10–1 Game 3 victory that had left the Rays facing elimination. In its Game 4 preview, MLB described how an eight-run fifth inning had separated the teams the previous night. Tuesday offered no such separation. A one-run contest kept every error and extra baserunner relevant until the final swing.
MLB placed Tampa Bay’s finish in a narrow historical category. It was the 17th walk-off victory by a team facing elimination in the World Series, and only the second by a team facing a sweep. The other was the 1910 Chicago Cubs. That comparison describes the rarity of surviving this particular night, not evidence that the Rays have solved the larger task of overturning a 3–0 deficit.
They still need three more wins. Milwaukee needs one, the same number it needed before Game 4. What changed is that the Brewers must now earn it in another game, after watching the bottom of the 12th turn their first lead into their first loss of the series. For Tampa Bay, Williamson’s ground ball was enough to keep the clubhouse open for Wednesday.
