The Milwaukee Brewers turned Game 3 of the World Series into a laugher Monday night, pounding the Tampa Bay Rays 10-1 behind a historic eight-run fifth inning in which every single run scored with two outs. The win pushed Milwaukee to a commanding 3-0 series lead, putting the franchise one victory away from its first championship.
According to ESPN, the Brewers popped seven consecutive hits using all fields during the rally and did it without hitting a single home run. The Associated Press, via KXAN Austin, reported that Milwaukee hit three doubles and four singles during the inning, with Brice Turang, Garrett Mitchell and Cooper Pratt driving in five runs in a three-pitch span alone.
The fifth-inning surge followed a tense moment at the plate. Per the same AP account, home plate umpire Dan Bellino initially signaled a forceout at second on William Contreras's ground ball to third, only for the call to be overturned by the league's replay operations center in New York, which ruled Contreras safe on an infield single that loaded the bases. From there, the floodgates opened: Turang hit a 106 mph one-hop grounder that deflected off Taylor Walls's glove to score two runs and make it 4-0, Mitchell added an opposite-field RBI single through the shortstop hole, and Pratt followed with a two-run double off Junior Caminero's glove into the left-field corner to push Milwaukee's lead to 7-0.
Chourio and Gasser Carry the Night
Jackson Chourio was at the center of it all. The 22-year-old left fielder went 4-for-5 with an RBI, two runs scored and a stolen base, according to ESPN, and finished with two hits in the fifth inning alone on his way to four for the game, per the AP report. ESPN notes that Chourio became the 26th player in history to record a multihit game in each of the first three games of a World Series — and the youngest ever to do it.
Sal Frelick added an opposite-field double that scored Pratt and chased reliever Cam Booser, who had relieved starter Freddy Peralta, while David Hamilton's run-scoring single off Cole Sulser made it 9-0, the wire report detailed. On the mound, Robert Gasser was nearly untouchable, allowing just one hit and facing the minimum through six innings, according to NBC News. Yandy Díaz finally got Tampa Bay on the board with a ninth-inning double, as reported by CNN.
A Night of Record-Setting Numbers
The scale of Milwaukee's outburst drew comparisons across baseball history. CNN reported that the seven consecutive two-out hits and the eight two-out runs were both World Series records. However, the New York Times's The Athletic offered a different count, reporting that the Brewers had collected eight consecutive two-out hits off Peralta, Booser and Sulser — a discrepancy between outlets that remains unresolved.
ESPN noted the Brewers became the first team to have seven consecutive batters record hits in a postseason game, and the first team to lead a World Series game by 10-plus runs through five innings since the 2007 Red Sox. The same report said Milwaukee also became the first team to reach double digits in a World Series game without a home run since the 2014 Royals. Per MLB, as cited by the AP, the previous high for two-out runs in a postseason inning belonged to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who scored 10 runs with two outs in the first inning of Game 3 of the 2020 NL Championship Series against Milwaukee. ESPN added that the Brewers' eight two-out runs rank as the second-most in postseason history behind that 2020 Dodgers inning.
The AP also noted that the previous mark for two-out runs in a World Series inning had been seven, shared by Boston's 2007 World Series opener against Colorado and San Francisco's eighth inning in Game 2 against Texas in 2010 — a standard identified by the Elias Sports Bureau before Monday's rally broke it.
Milwaukee's Scorching Stretch and What Comes Next
Monday's rout extended a remarkable run for Milwaukee. ESPN reported that since the Rays took a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning of Game 2, the Brewers have scored 15 consecutive runs, and through three games of the series Milwaukee has outscored Tampa Bay 18-6 while hitting just one home run. NBC News reported the Brewers collected 16 hits in Game 3 to win their eighth straight postseason game and fourth in a row on the road, building on two one-run wins at American Family Field earlier in the series, according to the AP.
History is not kind to teams in the Rays' position. CNN reported that no team has ever come back from an 0-3 deficit to win the World Series. NBC News noted that of the 25 previous teams that took a 3-0 World Series lead, 21 completed the sweep and four won in five games, while NBC New York reported that the 1970 Cincinnati Reds were the last World Series team to force a Game 5 after trailing 3-0, a feat the 2024 Yankees matched by winning Game 4 before also losing in five, per The Athletic. The Red Sox remain the only team in baseball history to erase a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven postseason series, having done so against the Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series, according to NBC New York.
ESPN reported that the Rays plan to turn to Griffin Jax and a series of relievers in Game 4 as they try to keep their season alive. For Tampa Bay, which per the AP was playing its first World Series game at Tropicana Field in 18 years, the task now is simply to survive one more night.
