The Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 in Game 5 to win the World Series for the first time in franchise history.
The Story
The Milwaukee Brewers won their first World Series title in franchise history, beating the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 in Game 5 on Wednesday night at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Milwaukee scored all four of its runs with help from rookie Cooper Pratt, who had two hits and two runs batted in, and from additional offence that extended the lead. Pratt also set a Series rookie record with six straight hits before a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning.
On the mound, young ace Jacob Misiorowski threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings and allowed two hits before leaving the game because of a right calf cramp. He finished with two strikeouts, matching his career low after not recording one in the first three innings.
The Brewers took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Pratt singled and later scored on a single by David Hamilton off Rays starter Drew Rasmussen.
Pratt’s performance continued in the fifth, when he singled for his sixth straight hit in the Series and scored on Hamilton’s single off Kevin Kelly. In the sixth inning, William Contreras hit an RBI double and Pratt added a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0.
Tampa Bay’s lone run came late, after closer Trevor Megill pitched the final two innings. In the ninth, Megill allowed an RBI double to Chandler Simpson with two outs, but Richie Palacios was retired on a grounder to end the game.
The win completed Milwaukee’s World Series run following a 3-2 series-opening victory in which Misiorowski earned his first postseason start win, and after a Game 4 loss in which the Brewers were three outs away from a sweep in the 12th. The Brewers finished 11-2 in the postseason, including a sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS.
The Brewers’ World Series win came in the 58th season of the franchise, which began as the Seattle Pilots in 1969 and moved to Milwaukee the following year; their only previous championship was in 1957 as the Braves.
In the Rays’ first World Series trip, they dropped to 0-3 after the Game 5 loss. The Rays had been trying to become the first team to fall behind 3-0 in a World Series and force a sixth game.
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