Rays 4, Brewers 3 (12 innings) — 2026 World Series Game Four
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (Oct 27) — Three outs from being swept, the Tampa Bay Rays took advantage of an error on what would have been the first out of the inning, cracking four straight hits to score two runs and shock the Milwaukee Brewers, 4–3, in 12 innings.
The Rays win overshadowed a 4-for-5 day from Cooper Pratt. One of Pratt’s four hits was a solo homer in the top of the 12th that put the Brewers ahead.
Brewers – Rays Game Summary
The Rays took a 1–0 lead in the bottom of the second when a Chandler Simpson double down the right-field line scored Jonny DeLuca from first. In the top of the fourth, the Brewers tied it on consecutive two-out hits. Sal Frelick singled to right before scoring from first on a Cooper Pratt double.
The Rays regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth. With Junior Caminero on second and one out, Jonny DeLuca hit a grounder to third. David Hamilton fielded it and lunged with the ball to tag Caminero. After the tag began, Caminero lunged to avoid it. Hamilton missed, then threw wide of first. As the ball got away, Caminero scored. The Brewers challenged, but the replay room ruled that the Caminero lunge was within the permitted three feet to either side of his base path.
But the 2–1 Rays lead did not last long. Hamilton atoned for the missed tag when he led off the fifth with a no-doubt homer to right.
The game remained 2–2 until Cooper Pratt led off the 12th with a no-doubt home run to left. Jackson Chourio, two outs later, crashed a double to right-center. But Jake Bauers stranded him with a popup to the shortstop for the third out.
What…Just…Happened
Antonio Senzatela took the mound for the bottom of the 12th, continuing his appearance from the 11th. He induced a grounder down the third-base line from Junior Caminero. Joey Ortiz fielded it and fired it across the diamond, but the throw was low. It bounced, and Jake Bauers couldn’t come up with it on the scoop attempt. The throwing error on Ortiz put Caminero on first with nobody out. With the lefties coming up for the Rays, the Brewers turned to rookie left-hander Shane Drohan. A single to left by Liam Hicks put runners on the corners. Cedric Mullins came in to run for Caminero. Up stepped Jonny DeLuca, whose single to center tied the game. Nick Fortes pinch-ran for Hicks, now at second as the winning run. Simpson also singled, but he hit it so hard that Fortes stopped at third.
With the bases loaded and nobody out, Ben Williamson came up, pinch-hitting for Victor Mesa Jr. He hit a high Baltimore chop to the right side. The ball bounced seven feet from the plate and catapulted into the outfield, high over the heads of the drawn-in infielders. “That was totally what I told him to do,” Rays manager Kevin Cash joked when asked if that was the strategy. He smiled and added, “Good listening.”
As Fortes scored the winning run, Tropicana Field was a tale of two emotions. Rays fans were ecstatic, but the thousands of Brewers fans who made the trip could only stand there in stunned disappointment. Three outs from being swept, the Rays had scored two runs to win — without making a single out.
What Went Right for the Brewers
Cooper Pratt
The most obvious “what went right” for the Brewers was the 4-for-5 performance of Cooper Pratt, including the go-ahead homer in the top of the 12th.
Didn’t Stay Down Long
They rallied twice from one-run deficits to tie the game. The first came in the top of the fourth, then they did it again in the top of the fifth. In the first case, it took them two times at bat to rally. The second rally came on their very next time batting.
Relief Pitching
Yes, the 12th inning collapse came with a reliever on the mound. But he was the seventh Brewers reliever of the day. The first five — JoJo Romero, Abner Uribe, DL Hall, Trevor Megill, and Aaron Ashby — all held the Rays completely scoreless. Antonio Senzatela — the sixth — was charged with a run, but it was unearned.
What Went Wrong for the Brewers
Failed to Cash In
The Brewers went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position. Part of that is on them, yes. However, for a lot of this, credit goes to the Rays. They kept the Brewers from reaching scoring position so well that the Brewers only had three at-bats with runners in scoring position in the first place. In fact, between the fourth and the twelfth, the Brewers did not have a runner in scoring position at all, since their fifth-inning run came on a solo homer. Furthermore, the few times the Brewers did have a runner in scoring position, the Rays pitchers executed and got out of it.
Couldn’t Protect 12th-inning Lead
This is obvious. They entered the bottom of the 12th needing three outs for the franchise’s first championship. But instead, they did not record any outs and committed an error on the first defensive play of the frame.
What Went Right for the Rays
Punished Late Error
The window opened for the Rays when Ortiz’s throw to first bounced in such a way that Bauers could merely deflect it and not scoop it. However, they still had to hit, and hit they did. Four straight singles later, they had an improbable comeback victory.
Shutdown Relief Pitching
Prior to the 12th, five Rays relievers combined to throw seven scoreless innings. Kevin Kelly, Nick Martinez, Bryan Baker, Tyler Wells, and Cam Booser gave the Rays chances to win after shutting down a Brewers offense that scored 10 runs on 16 hits the previous day.
Recovery by Seymour
Yes, Seymour gave up the Pratt homer to lead off the 12th. But his outing didn’t end there. Seymour’s Rays were at home, so they still needed to get three outs and prevent the Brewers from scoring more.
How did he refocus and make sure that was the only run he gave up? “It’s over,” Seymour explained in a one-on-one interview. “If you dwell on it, you’re dwelling on something that’s already happened. You simply have to throw the next pitch. That’s the only mentality you can have, or you’ll drive yourself crazy.”
Seymour struck out Garrett Mitchell and got Ortiz to ground to second. After the Chourio double, Seymour got Bauers to pop to the shortstop for the third out.
What Went Wrong for the Rays
Missed Opportunities
Of the six runners the Rays left on base, four were in scoring position. However, three of the runners left on base and two that were in scoring position were in the 12th. They were stranded, by rule, when the game ended. So effectively, they left three on base with two in scoring position. Those came in the second, seventh, and eleventh. The runner in the seventh was left on first, so he was the one of the three who was not left in scoring position.
Fell Behind in 12th
Granted, it made the game more dramatic, but they did put themselves in a hole by falling behind in the top of the 12th.
Closing with Mis?
No. Murphy said after the game that they did not consider having Game Five starter Jacob Misiorowski come in to close the game in the 12th. “You can’t blow that type of situation (Misiorowski starting Game Five) on a one-run lead on the road. If we were in the 13th inning and we had a three-run lead, that might have been a little bit different. Probably still wouldn’t have.
“We did the things we needed to do. They (the Rays) put the ball in play when they needed to and did some clutch things when they needed to there. We had the matchups we want. We made an error in — whatever the last inning, we made an error, and that’s unusual. But we made an error, and they capitalized with a hit, a hit, a hit, and a hit.”
Quotes
“Credit to Tampa for what they did. Just credit them. Like look what they did. They put it in play when they needed to. We drained a lot of pitching, as they did, and that’s part of playing a tight ballgame.” — Brewers manager Pat Murphy on the bottom of the 12th
“It’s what you dream of growing up. You play Wiffle ball in the backyard with your friends and you’re dreaming of hitting a walkoff ball in the World Series. The way the team fought tonight to get me into that situation and to have runners on, and just to have that moment for me was huge for them.” — Ben Williamson on his walk-off single
Quick Hits
Williamson became the second player in World Series history with an extra-inning walk-off hit to keep his team from being swept. He joined Jimmy Sheckard of the 1910 Chicago Cubs. In Sheckard’s case, it merely delayed his opponent’s celebration by one day. The then-Philadelphia Athletics won Game Five, 7–2, to win the 1910 World Series.
Jackson Chourio, with his two hits, notched his ninth and tenth hits of the Series. This ties Babe Ruth for the most in the first four games of a Series. Ruth went 10-for-16 in the 1928 World Series, where his New York Yankees swept the St. Louis Cardinals.
Murphy and the Brewers staff pulled Ashby for a simple, observable reason. “The velo was down quite a bit,” Murphy said. “We can tell when Ashby’s ball doesn’t have the same movement and the same finish. So it was time.”
Looking Ahead
Seymour earned the win as Drohan took the loss, both in relief.
The Rays and Brewers will play Game Five of the 2026 World Series Wednesday night at Tropicana Field. The Rays had yet to announce their starter as of press time, but he will face Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski (16–5, 1.80 ERA in the regular season). First pitch will be at 8 pm Eastern/7 pm Central.
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