The Brewers turned Game 3 into a blowout Monday night, beating the Rays 10-1 at Tropicana Field and moving to within one win of the first championship in franchise history. The damage came in a fifth inning that produced eight runs and left the Rays staring at a 3-0 World Series deficit.
Christian Yelich was at the center of it. After drawing a walk in the fifth, he took an aggressive secondary lead that helped open the inning for the Brewers, and Sal Frelick later said that base running was what made the huge frame possible. The result pushed Milwaukee to 10-1 in the playoffs and made it the first team to win eight straight since the 2017 Nationals.
That was the search interest in the game: Tampa Bay Rays Vs Milwaukee Brewers became a must-read because this was no ordinary October night. Monday was the first World Series game at Tropicana Field since Game 2 in 2008, when James Shields had helped the Rays beat the Phillies, and the ceremonial first pitch before this one came from Shields as well. Instead of a home-field lift, the Rays were flattened after entering the night already down two games.
The fifth inning showed how quickly it slipped away. Jackson Chourio singled, Yelich walked, and the Brewers challenged the out call on Yelich after Junior Caminero’s throw to second came too late to force him. Brice Turang then drove a hard one-hopper up the middle that ate up Taylor Walls and brought in two runs, and the inning kept expanding from there. Freddy Peralta had already been kept on the mound through four innings while the Rays tried to work against him, but he had thrown 64 pitches by that point and the bullpen plan did not stop Milwaukee from breaking the game open.
That leaves the Rays with the same problem no club has ever solved in the World Series: a 3-0 hole. Game 4 is Tuesday night, and the only question that matters now is whether Tampa Bay can do enough to avoid ending a rare Tropicana Field World Series appearance in a sweep.
