Rays stare at World Series flop

BREWERS STORM: Milwaukee turned a 2-0 lead into a 7-0 advantage with Brice Turang, Garrett Mitchell and Cooper Pratt connecting on three straight pitches

• AP, ST PETERSBURG, Florida

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The Milwaukee Brewers on Monday became the first team to score eight runs with two outs in an MLB World Series inning as they routed the Tampa Bay Rays 10-1 to take a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Tampa Bay’s first World Series game at Tropicana Field in 18 years turned into a record-setter for Brewers batters as they piled on the runs in the fifth inning.

Taylor Walls stabbed at a Brice Turang grounder and felt it glance off his glove.

The Milwaukee Brewers’ Jackson Chourio, left, steals second base as Taylor Walls of the Tampa Bay Rays is late on the tag during Game 3 of the MLB World Series at Tropicana Field in St Petersburg, Florida, on Monday.

Photo: Nathan Ray Seebeck / Imagn Images via Reuters

“Knife in the chest,” the Rays shortstop said.

Turang’s two-run single was the second of a post-season-record seven straight two-out hits against starter Freddy Peralta, and relievers Cam Booser and Cole Sulser.

Milwaukee turned a 2-0 lead into a 7-0 advantage with Turang, Garrett Mitchell and Cooper Pratt connecting on three straight pitches. The Brewers went on to score eight runs in a 17-pitch span to open a 10-run advantage.

The Tampa Bay Rays’ Taylor Walls attempts to field the ball during Game 3 of the MLB World Series against the Milwaukee Brewers at Tropicana Field in St Petersburg, Florida, on Monday.

Photo: AFP

Jackson Chourio had a single and a double in the inning, part of his four-hit night.

“Worst feeling in the world, feeling like you let your team down,” a downcast Booser said in the quiet Tampa Bay clubhouse.

Among 25 previous teams who fell behind 3-0 in a World Series, 21 were swept and four lost in five games. Of 43 teams to trail 3-0 in any best-of-seven post-season matchup, only the Boston Red Sox against the New York Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series rebounded to win.

Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Freddy Peralta looks on during Game 3 of the MLB World Series against the Milwaukee Brewers at Tropicana Field in St Petersburg, Florida, on Monday.

Photo: Kim Klement Neitzel / Imagn Images via Reuters

“It’s kind of that chip and a chair mentality,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “We’ve got a seat at the table. We’ve got to do something with the chip. Obviously the only thing we can do is win tomorrow [this morning, Taiwan time].”

Coming off a pair of one-run wins at American Family Field, the Brewers took a 2-0 lead in the third inning when Christian Yelich and William Contreras hit opposite-field, one-out RBI singles on consecutive pitches.

“They were very disciplined at the plate,” Peralta said. “Just tried to hit the ball the other way.”

Chourio singled with one out in the fifth and Christian Yelich walked with two outs. Contreras grounded to third and Junior Caminero threw to second as umpire Dan Bellino signaled a forceout.

However, the call was reversed in the New York replay operations center by umpire Alfonso Marquez, giving Contreras an infield single that loaded the bases.

Caminero might have had a better chance of throwing out Contreras at first base.

“I knew the speed at first base wasn’t necessarily the best in that situation,” Caminero said through a translator. “So going into the moment, once I got the groundball I was going to second base all the way.”

Booser relieved and Turang’s one-hopper hit the dirt just past the infield grass, bounced off Walls’ glove and into short center field.

“I’d like to have that one back. Those are plays that you’d like to make, that you expect to make even though they may be on the tougher end,” Walls said. “That was pretty much the turning point in the game there.”

Walls dropped to a knee and held out his glove at shoulder level trying to make what would have been an excellent stop, then tumbled as the ball bounced past him.

“You just try to get your eyes as close to where the ball is going to be, the height of the hop,” he said. “Ideally, I guess if you want to talk about fractions, if you can get your glove behind the ball and work more backwards, you have a better chance to make the play than if you’re slightly above it having to kind of work down a little bit, which is where I kind of felt I was.”

Mitchell grounded an opposite-field RBI single through the shortstop hole vacated with Walls shifted toward second for the left-handed batter. Pratt followed with a smash off the glove of a diving Caminero that rolled into the left-field corner for a two-run double.

Sal Frelick sliced an opposite-field double that hit the wall on a hop in the left-field corner, scoring Pratt and chasing Booser.

David Hamilton greeted Sulser by lining a shoulder-high fastball into center for a run-scoring single and a 9-0 lead. Chourio lofted an opposite-field RBI double that hit just in front of the warning track.

Boston set the previous World Series high of seven runs with two outs in the fifth inning of the 2007 opener against the Colorado Rockies, a feat matched three years later by the San Francisco Giants in the eighth inning of Game 2 against the Texas Rangers, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

The Los Angeles Dodgers were the only prior team with eight two-out runs in any post-season inning, scoring 10 with two outs in the first inning of Game 3 against the Atlanta Braves in the 2020 National League Championship Series.

Griffin Jax said he would put the World Series deficit out of his mind as he prepared to start Game 4.

“We just got our butts kicked tonight. I don’t think there’s really much else to say,” Jax said. “We’ll just kind of forget it and try to sleep it off and come back tomorrow ready to fight.”