MILWAUKEE, WI — Now leading the Rays 2-0 in this best of seven Fall Classic, the Brewers continued to show their resilience with an improbable 5-4 win Saturday night in Game 2 of the World Series. 

Teams that go up 2-0 in a Fall Classic, Milwaukee’s case, have gone on to win around 81.2% of the time.

Only 10 teams have overcome a 2-0 hole in a World Series and successfully come back to win, which is what Tampa Bay is seeking. 

To lead off the game, the Rays punched the Brewers in the mouth first as Yandy Díaz reached on an error by shortstop Cooper Pratt and then Chandler Simpson helped ensue chaos with an RBI single, a stolen base, and a run scored.

Dominican superstar Junior Caminero ripped a ball down the third base line to bring in Simpson, and all of a sudden, it was 2-0 Rays.

Brewers starter Logan Henderson couldn’t settle in, and Liam Hicks added more damage with a two-run home run.

​Down 4-0 against the Rays while facing Tampa’s ace Drew Rasmussen, it could have been very easy for the Brewers to fold and be satisfied with their win in Game 1 and a 1-1 split after two. 

The other layer to this is that the Brewers drafted Rasmussen back in 2018, but perhaps that gave them the edge they needed as the sold out crowd of 43,245 in American Family Field went through more ups and downs than a roller coaster Saturday night.

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The Comeback Kids: Jackson Chourio and William Contreras

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Yet again, like Game 1, Brewers Venezuelan stars Jackson Chourio (2-5 with 1 run scored) and William Contreras (2-5 with an RBI) were in the middle of the rally in home half of the first with a lead-off single from Chourio and an RBI single by Contreras for the Brewers’ first run of the game to cut the deficit to 4-1. 

​Garret Mitchell drove in the second run with another single and at 4-2 with four hits in the first, the Brewers had Rasmussen out of rhythm.

The right-hander normally works quickly with conviction in his pitches, but the Brew Crew’s top of the lineup were on the majority of his offerings—fouling off tough pitches and running up Rasmussen’s pitch count from the jump—29 after one inning of work. 

​“It’s a huge at-bat. Huge at-bat. We set the guy (up) and he (Contreras( came through with a knock, and then Mitchell got a big knock,” said Brewers manager Pat Murphy postgame. “That first inning meant something, that we bounced back against a pitcher that good. I mean, that guy, he’s as good as there is out there. We got his pitch count up and got him out of there. So credit to our guys.”

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Romero and Frelick Come Up Clutch 

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Fast forward to the fourth inning with the Rays holding onto their 4-2 lead and Murphy already having to turn to his vaunted bullpen. Mexican-American left-hander Jojo Romero was first in line and up to the task, pitching a scoreless fourth with a strikeout to keep Milwaukee within two runs. Romero has been rock solid all postseason with 10 strikeouts in 6.1 innings and an ERA of 1.42.

​In the bottom half of the inning, Rays manager Kevin Cash also had to go to his pen, which ended Rasmussen’s night after 3.2 innings. An error by Mexican first baseman Jonathan Aranda brought in the third run of the game soon after and the pressure was turned up a notch to a 4-3 ballgame.

​The zeros then continued for an inning or so, however during that time, Tampa Bay missed out on a big scoring chance in the sixth when Cuban outfielder Victor Mesa Jr. hit an opposite-field single to Chourio, who threw Hicks out at home by about 15 feet.

It was a brutal send that ran the Rays out of the inning although there were already two outs. 

Regardless of the decision by third base coach Brady Williams, the 22-year-old Chourio made another winning play. 

“That’s kind of been our MO all season long, put pressure on the defense,” stated Cash postgame. “Know that Chourio is extremely talented out there, gets rid of the ball really quick, but put pressure on the defense. He got rid of it quick and put it right on the bag to Contreras.”

​The Brewers capitalized on the Rays’ misfortune and tied the game up in the bottom of the sixth with a home run from Sal Frelick, which was left-on-left against Ian Seymour off a sinker on the ninth pitch of the at-bat.

This whole sequence to Frelick felt like a gut punch to Tampa as Seymour ended up throwing 32 pitches to four batters in the sixth.

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“He’s pretty much a sinker guy. I was fouling them off, missed a few good ones and then late in the at-bat, he started throwing four seams and kind of caught me by surprise,” noted Frelick who went 2-4 with the HR, 1 RBI and one run scored. “I was able to spoil a few of those and was just really hoping, because I had seen the sinker earlier, that he would maybe leave one over the plate, and yeah, he did.” 

A questionable scenario headed into it since ​reliever Cam Booser was cruising with 13 pitches and four outs recorded.

Perhaps he should’ve been given more rope before Seymour was considered to come out of the bullpen.

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Pratt and Uribe Push Brewers

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The Rays weren’t helped by their bats going relatively silent over the final eight innings since their four-run first. Dominican reliever Abner Uribe was the next Brewers arm in line and kept the flow going steady by getting four outs without allowing a run.

Similar to Romero, Uribe has been on the money this October with nine strikeouts in 9.1 innings and an ERA of 2.00.

​“They’ve been a godsend to us,” Murphy said on Romero and Uribe postgame, also shouting out Dustin May and DL Hall, who each pitched a scoreless frame. 

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On the other hand, the Brewers bats were up to the task with 11 hits on the night, with the decisive one coming from Pratt in the seventh on a go-ahead single that gave Milwaukee a 5-4 lead that they would ride out to the finish line.

​“It was awesome, especially I think earlier I said being able to redeem myself for the mess-up in the first. It’s nine innings for a reason,” said Pratt, 1-3 with an RBI, one run scored and a walk. “You get four at-bats. You’re going to go back out for defense, and it’s important to remember that, pitch by pitch.” 

​For the second straight night, the game-tying run was left stranded on third base when left-hander Aaron Ashby—who extended his shutout streak this postseason to 15 2/3 innings—struck out Díaz on a check swing call that caused the Cuban star slugger to get angry and point towards the first base umpire James Hoye. 

“In the moment, yeah, I disagreed. But the umpire said it was a swing and it is what it is,” said Díaz through team interpreter Kevin Vera.

“Ultimately, we lost.” 

​Looking Ahead to Game 3 of World Series 

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2026 ALCS MVP Freddy Peralta (10-11, 4.42 ERA), looking to continue to be lights out at Tropicana Field, but this time against his former team, will have the responsibility to save the Rays season with a stellar Game 3 performance Monday night, October 26th. 

While Milwaukee leads 2-0, the Brewers are set to counter with RHP Robert Gasser (5-7, 3.87 ERA), who will look to give his team a commanding 3-0 World Series lead. 

First pitch at 8:08pm ET from The Trop in St. Petersburg, Florida.