Latest / Tampa Bay Rays Weekly / Tampa Bay Rays Game Review — Oct 24, 2026: 4-5 vs Milwaukee Brewers

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Tampa Bay Rays Game Review — Oct 24, 2026: 4-5 vs Milwaukee Brewers · Tampa Bay Rays Weekly

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey everybody, I'm Mike Michelson and I need a minute.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: I really do. Because what we just watched in Milwaukee
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: is the kind of game that stays with you long
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: after the broadcast ends. The kind where you replay certain
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: moments at 2 in the morning, wondering what if, what if,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: what if. We led 4-0, 5 batters into a World
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Series game. We were up 4-0 and now it's 2-0
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: in the series. My stomach is still in knots. Start
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: with that first inning because for about four minutes, it
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: felt like we were watching the Rays do exactly what
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: they do best. Cooper Pratt made a throwing error on
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Yandy Diaz, and suddenly there's a runner on first with
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: nobody out. Then it snowballed. Chandler Simpson singled him home.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Junior Caminero followed with an RBI single to score Simpson.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: And then Liam Hicks did something I honestly did not
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: expect from him in a World Series game, a two-run
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: bomb to right center field, 4-0, one out. The roof
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: was closed at American Family Field, 43,000 people packed in there,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: and you could feel the air leave the building. Logan
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Henderson was getting shelled, 64 pitches in three innings, four runs,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: three earned. Pat Murphy pulled him after three, even though
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: he'd retired eight of the last nine hitters he faced
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: after that disaster. But you don't blame a guy for
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: the first inning when everything is coming at him at once.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: Here's what stings, though. We should have put this game
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: away in that first inning. Should have been five, six,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: seven runs. Instead, we stranded guys. Two left on base
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: in the top of one, and somehow the lead never grew.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Brewers clawed back two in the bottom of that same first.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Contreras singled. Mitchell singled. And just like that, it's 4-2
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: after one inning of a World Series game. You think, OK,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: we still have a two-run lead. We still have the bullpen.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: Drew Rasmussen pitched three and two-thirds innings, gave up three runs,
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: but only three were earned, and he kept things steady
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: after that chaos. But then came the fourth. Jonathan Aranda,
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: who had a rough night at first base overall, let
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: a grounder from David Hamilton get through his legs. Cooper
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Pratt scored 4-3, and the momentum shifted. You could feel
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: it in the building. Every pitch from that moment forward
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: felt heavier than it should have. Now here's where it
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: gets really painful. Sixth inning, we had a chance to
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: extend the lead. Liam Hicks, who had already homered, gets
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: on base and tries to score. Jackson Shurio fires him home.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: The umpires call him out. We challenge the tag, lose it.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: We challenge the collision call, lose that too. Two challenges
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: blown and the game stays 4-3. Then leading off the seventh,
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Sal Ferlic takes Ian Seymour deep to dead center. 408
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: feet off a 93-mile-per-hour fastball. This is a kid who
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: hit four home runs all regular season. Four, and he
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: just launched one into the World Series bleachers to tie
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: it up. Freelick rounded those bases in 21.4 seconds, barely
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: looking up. But the dagger, the real dagger, also the seventh.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Tyler Wells comes in the pitch, and Bryce Terang leads
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: off with a double, just a double. And Kevin Kelly
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: is on the mound, and Cooper Pratt, the same Cooper
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Pratt who made the throwing error in the first inning
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: that started our rally, singles him home 4-5.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: Go ahead, run.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: The irony is almost too neat. Pratt went from GOAT
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: to hero in the same game, and we were on
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: the wrong side of both. Abner Uribe came in and
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: retired four batters to start the eighth. Caminero grounded out
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: to open it, and that was basically it. The Brewers'
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: bullpen had a 1.24 ERA this postseason coming in, and
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: they were living up to every bit of it. Jojo Romero,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: Dustin May, D.L. Hall, all through scoreless innings despite a
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: base runner each en route to getting the ball to Uribe.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Aaron Ashby came in for the save and extended his
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: postseason scoreless streak to 15 and two-thirds innings.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: But we weren't dead yet.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: Ninth inning, Johnny DeLuca doubled to lead off against Ashby,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: tying run on second. Then William Contreras started doing some
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: nifty work behind the plate, blocking balls in the dirt,
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: keeping DeLuca from advancing. Victor Mesa Jr. struck out ground out,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: two outs, tying run at third. And then Yandy Diaz,
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: who had struck out three times all night, stepped into
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: the box with a chance to tie the World Series game,
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: and he was ruled out.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: On a check swing. Game over.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: A check swing. That's how it ends. Not with a bang,
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: not with a clutch hit, not with a dramatic at-bat
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: that goes deep into a count. Just a check swing
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: call that ends your night and leaves the tying run
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: stranded at third. And now we're down 0-2 in the
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: World Series. Let me hit you with the stat that
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: keeps me up at night. Only 11 of 57 teams
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: have ever come back from a 2-0 deficit in the
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: World Series. Nobody has done it since the 1996 Yankees.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: 30 years of nobody.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: But here's what I'll say for our team. We scored
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: four runs in the first inning of a World Series game.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: That's not nothing. Hicks hitting a home run in October.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: Not nothing.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Caminero driving one end. Simpson getting on base and stealing
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: the bag.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: Real things. This team can hit. We know that. We
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: go home now.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: Tropicana field, our crowd, our energy. Game three is where
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: this series lives or dies. If we lose there, it's
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: 3-0 and the comeback odds go from bad to almost impossible.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: But if we win game three, it's 2-1 and suddenly
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: the Trump gets that electricity back. I'll be honest, I
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: don't know how we fix the bullpen issues. Ian Seymour
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: getting hit for a home run in a World Series game.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: Tyler Wells giving up the leadoff double in the seventh.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: Those are moments that haunt you. But we also had
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: a four-run lead. We had the game in our hands
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: for six innings and let it go. So that's where
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: we are. Down 2-0. Heartbroken, frustrated, but not done.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: Not yet.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: The Rays have been here before in October. We know
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: what it feels like to be counted out. I'm Mike Michelson.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: Thanks for listening. Go Rays. We'll see you in Tampa.