Brewers rally past Rays 5-4, lead World Series 2-0

The Milwaukee Brewers erased an early four-run deficit to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-4 in Game 2 of the World Series on Saturday night, taking a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Cooper Pratt’s go-ahead single in the seventh inning at American Family Field decided it. Sal Frelick tied the game with a home run in the sixth, and Aaron Ashby held on in the ninth after the Rays moved the tying run to third base.

Tampa Bay scored four times in the first inning off Brewers rookie Logan Henderson. Chandler Simpson’s single drove in Yandy Diaz, Junior Caminero followed with a single, and Liam Hicks hit a 411-foot home run to right-centre, the first home run of the Series.

Milwaukee answered right away. Jackson Chourio and Jake Bauers hit back-to-back singles, William Contreras drove in Chourio with a hit-and-run single, and Garrett Mitchell’s two-out single to right made it 4-2.

The Brewers cut the gap to 4-3 in the fourth. Pratt scored after a walk and a Frelick single, helped by an error from Rays first baseman Jonathan Aranda on a David Hamilton ground ball. Rays starter Drew Rasmussen lasted only 3 2/3 innings, his shortest start in months, according to MLB.com.

Frelick tied it 4-4 with a home run to centre off left-hander Ian Seymour. Frelick had hit one home run off a left-handed pitcher in 98 regular-season plate appearances, MLB.com reported. In the seventh, Brice Turang doubled, moved to third on a Mitchell fly ball, and Pratt singled to right for the lead.

Chourio was called out on a collision play at the plate in the eighth that denied Milwaukee an insurance run. In the ninth, Diaz was called out on a check-swing strike to end the game.

Frelick said that when the Brewers are down, they are not out. Diaz said the Rays did not do their job by failing to score more runs to help their pitchers.

Teams that have taken a 2-0 lead in the World Series have gone on to win the championship 80.7 per cent of the time, in 55 previous instances, according to MLB.com.

The Series now shifts to the Rays’ home ballpark in St. Petersburg, Fla. Game 3 is Monday at 8 p.m. ET (6 p.m. MT) on FOX. Read how the Brewers won Game 1 by a 3-2 score and how the Rays reached the World Series.

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Via MLB.com and ESPN.