The Brewers Won Game 1, Then Had to Win the Last Out Twice

Milwaukee already had the party cued. Then the replay took it back.

The Brewers beat the Rays 3-2 on Friday night in Game 1 of the World Series, in front of 43,250 at American Family Field. First Fall Classic game in the city since 1982. No home runs. The inning that mattered was the ninth, and they had to play the last out twice.

Christian Yelich came in with one of the longest active careers never to include a World Series at-bat, and he tripled in his first one. Jackson Chourio had singled ahead of him and scored. William Contreras’s liner made it 2-0 before the first inning was done. Jacob Misiorowski opened with a 103.5 mph fastball to Yandy Diaz, the hardest pitch anyone has thrown in a World Series, then worked five innings of one run on four hits. His line afterward was the useful one: not perfect, good enough to get a win. Tampa Bay’s run came in the fourth, on Junior Caminero’s 112.7 mph double and a Liam Hicks groundout. Chourio singled home an insurance run in the seventh. Nick Martinez matched him at five innings for the Rays, taking the loss so Drew Rasmussen and Freddy Peralta could rest the extra day.

The ninth is the clip. Trevor Megill loaded the bases. Hicks grounded to the right side, Brice Turang threw to Cooper Pratt, and it looked like a game-ending double play. The dugout emptied. They rolled the postgame stage toward foul territory and played Bruce Springsteen’s Glory Days. Review showed Pratt’s right foot slightly off the bag. One out disappeared, a run scored, two runners sat in scoring position, and it was 3-2. Megill came back with a 90 mph curve in the dirt. Jonny DeLuca swung through it. Yelich called the sequence an emotional dump and then a reset. Game 2 is Saturday night in the same park. Milwaukee leads, 1-0.