ST. PETERSBURG — The comeback stopped at one.
A night after a 12th-inning walk-off kept them alive, the Rays lost 4-1 to the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 5 of the World Series on Wednesday at Tropicana Field. Milwaukee took the series four games to one and won the first World Series title in franchise history, celebrating on the Trop's turf in front of a sellout crowd of 40,489 that the Tampa Bay Times described as having “mixed allegiance.”
That means there will be no Game 6 on Friday or Game 7 on Saturday in Milwaukee, and no road-game watch parties at the Trop.
How it ended
Brewers starter Jacob Misiorowski, the major league leader in ERA and strikeouts, threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings and allowed two hits before leaving with a right calf cramp, the Associated Press reported. He finished the series 2-0 with a 0.84 ERA.
Rookie Cooper Pratt, whose solo homer had briefly put Milwaukee ahead in the 12th inning of Game 4, drove in the first run with a single off Drew Rasmussen in the second inning. The Brewers added a run in the fifth on David Hamilton's single off Kevin Kelly, then two more in the sixth on a William Contreras RBI double and a Pratt sacrifice fly.
The Rays didn't score until two outs in the ninth, when Chandler Simpson doubled in a run. Closer Trevor Megill then got Richie Palacios to ground out to second to end it. Contreras was named World Series MVP.
Rasmussen, pitching on three days' rest and making back-to-back short-rest starts for the first time in his career, gave up one run in four innings. Manager Kevin Cash said the team had planned on 60 pitches or four innings and stuck to it.
“That guy is a stud,” Cash said of Rasmussen, according to the Times. “We knew this was a big ask, but appreciate Drew Rasmussen so much for taking the ball, wanting the ball, and going out and doing what he did.”
The bats never showed up
The Rays had four hits Wednesday. Over five games they scored 12 runs, hit .182 as a team and went 8-for-39 with runners in scoring position, the Times reported.
“The Milwaukee Brewers pitching. It's as simple as that,” Cash said when asked why. “We ran into a team that (Wednesday) had elite starting pitching, very good pitching, and then as elite of a bullpen as I've ever seen.”
The series went: Brewers 3-2 in Game 1, Brewers 5-4 in Game 2, Brewers 10-1 in Game 3, Rays 4-3 in 12 innings in Game 4, and Brewers 4-1 in Game 5.
Third World Series loss
It's the third time the Rays have reached the World Series and lost, after 2008 against the Phillies and 2020 against the Dodgers. The Times notes they're now the only team still looking for its first title that has lost the Series three times.
In the clubhouse afterward, players talked about how close the group had become since spring training, a team few experts expected to contend in the American League East.
“It's incredibly hard, man,” Rasmussen said. “This is the best group I've ever been around, especially at this level. To make it as far as we did and to come up short, I mean, failure sucks.”
“It's a lot of pain in coming up short, but, I mean, we can also be proud of everything that we accomplished,” Simpson said.
Cash said he was “crushed right now, disappointed, but it's easier to handle because of what we all meant to each other throughout the course of this season and certainly this last month in October.”
What fans are saying
For longtime fans, the feeling was familiar. Robert Shedden, a St. Pete native who has followed the team since 2008, stayed until the last out, ABC Action News reported.
“Always the bridesmaid, never the bride,” he said. “It's the life of a Rays fan. You always have hope and always just a little bit short.”
Shedden said he hopes the Rays keep most of the roster together and improve the bullpen as the franchise gets ready for its move to a new stadium in Tampa.
For a look back at the run, see TBO's coverage of the Game 4 walk-off that forced Wednesday's game.