World Series 2026: Brewers are left to grapple with only their second loss of the playoffs after 12th-inning unraveling in Game 4

· Yahoo Sports

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Cooper Pratt could taste it. Wisconsin could, too.

The taste of Fanta, of beer, of glory.

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Two ticks after midnight ET, in the nascent moments of Wednesday morning, Milwaukee’s teetotaling Gen-Z shortstop put a franchise, a city and a state on the brink of a historic rager. Leading off the top of the 12th, Pratt lofted a poorly located sweeper five rows beyond the left-field wall to break a 2-2 deadlock. Brewers players poured onto the field in uncontrollable jubilation as the sizable contingent of traveling Sconnies lost their marbles and voices and all semblance of reality.

It was the swing of a lifetime — not to mention the fourth hit of the evening for a 22-year-old rookie.

Three outs from the Tampa Bay Rays. That’s all that stood between these Brewers and immortality, between 56 years of heartbreak and catharsis, as this thriller flipped to the bottom of the 12th. 

It was not to be.

Tampa Bay stormed back to plate a pair in the 12th against reliever Shane Drohan, taking this unhinged Game 4 in walk-off fashion by a 4-3 score. In doing so, the Rays kept their baseball season going for at least one more day.

Math and history remain firmly on Milwaukee’s side. No team in World Series history has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win it all. For Wednesday’s Game 5, the Brewers will hand the rock to Jacob Misiorowski, the NL Cy Young favorite. Tampa Bay, on the other hand, has yet to announce a starter. And even if the Rays push this Fall Classic back to American Family Field, winning two straight in that thunderdome is quite a formidable task.

That doesn’t lessen the emotional pain of Game 4 for the Brewers. One last gut-punch for the road.

“I think the guys understand it's going to be hard,” Brewers skipper Pat Murphy conveyed postgame. “It's going to be hard. You're playing the best team in the American League. They proved it all year long, and they came up big today. It's going to be hard.”

Similarly difficult, for the Brewers, will be grappling with this loss. Before Tuesday, Milwaukee had not dropped a ballgame in 21 days. The stunned silence in the postgame clubhouse was foreign, unfamiliar. This Brewers team has been such a freight train, such a relentless force of nature, that it felt downright bizarre to watch them trudge off the field in defeat.

“That loss stings, but it’s a part of our story,” said reliever Aaron Ashby, who set a record in Game 4 by throwing his 18th consecutive scoreless inning, the most by a reliever in MLB postseason history. “I think the boys are fired up to get in here tomorrow.”

For most of the evening, though, the prospect of tomorrow felt unlikely.

The two clubs traded punches in the early going. Tampa opened the scoring in the second with a Chandler Simpson RBI double. Pratt answered in the fourth with an RBI double of his own, but Tampa jumped back in front in the bottom half on a missed defensive play from third baseman David Hamilton.

But Hamilton redeemed himself immediately, cranking just his fifth homer of the season to retie things 2-2. And there the contest stayed for about two-and-a-half hours. As the Rays and Brewers swapped zeros, with both bullpen carousels rising to the occasion, Milwaukee’s October track record of dramatic comeback after dramatic comeback lingered like a monster under the bed. It was just a matter of time, surely, until an offensive outburst. 

Instead, Milwaukee went six straight innings without scoring a run, their longest drought of this postseason.

“We hit seven balls that were above 97 [mph] tonight that got caught,” Murphy lamented afterward. “There's a chance that's going to disrupt your flow in your offense.”

Even so, the Brewers surged ahead via Pratt, whose massive long ball was momentarily the most consequential play in franchise history. For about 15 minutes, he was the most famous man in Wisconsin.

“Probably one of the coolest swings of my life,” he shared after the game, albeit in an understandably subdued tone. “But it’s over.”

It didn’t have to be. Milwaukee’s 12th-inning unraveling was self-inflicted. 

With nobody out, third baseman Joey Ortiz, one of the most sure-handed defenders in the sport, short-hopped a routine throw to first, which let Junior Caminero reach. In came the rookie Drohan for just his second appearance of these playoffs. He allowed a scorcher to the first batter he faced, catcher Liam Hicks, putting runners on the corners. Jonny DeLuca and Chandler Simpson then punched singles up the middle to tie the score and load the bases. Nobody warmed up in the Brewers ‘pen; Murphy was saving Misorowski for Game 5. 

Ben Williamson then finished the job, chopping a trampoline ball over a drawn-in infield to give Tampa Bay its first home World Series win since 2008.

Wisconsin, meanwhile, will need to put the champagne and the champagne of beers back on ice for at least one more day.

“We've talked about it a lot as a group, how it’s supposed to be hard,” Brewers captain Christian Yelich opined. “This stuff is not supposed to be easy. It’s supposed to test you.”

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