Rays Survive in 12 Innings as Williamson Walks Off Brewers in Game 4

The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3 in 12 innings in World Series Game 4 on Tuesday night at Tropicana Field and kept their season alive. Milwaukee still leads the series 3-1, but the Brewers will have to wait at least one more game for the first championship in franchise history.

The game turned twice in the 12th inning. Rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt led off the top of the inning with a solo home run off Ian Seymour, capping a four-hit night and giving Milwaukee a 3-2 lead. The Brewers were three outs from a title when the bottom of the inning started.

Then the door opened. Junior Caminero reached on a throwing error by Milwaukee third baseman Joey Ortiz, and Tampa Bay never let the inning breathe after that. Liam Hicks singled, Jonny DeLuca singled home pinch runner Cedric Mullins to tie the game 3-3, and Chandler Simpson singled to load the bases with nobody out.

Pinch hitter Ben Williamson ended it. He chopped a single through a drawn-in infield off Shane Drohan and pinch runner Nick Fortes scored the winner. Drohan faced four batters in the inning and retired none of them, and all four singled.

The early innings set up the late drama. Simpson doubled home DeLuca in the second for a 1-0 Rays lead, Pratt doubled home Sal Frelick in the fourth to tie it, and DeLuca scored on a fielder's choice in the bottom of the fourth after a throwing error by David Hamilton to put Tampa Bay back in front. Hamilton made up for the miscue by homering to lead off the fifth and tying the game 2-2, and neither team scored again until the 12th.

Pratt is now one of the stories of the series. His four hits in Game 4 followed a strong start to the Fall Classic, and Jackson Chourio added two more hits to reach 10 hits in the first four games of the series. The only other player to reach 10 hits in the first four games of a World Series was Babe Ruth in 1928.

It was the fourth game in World Series history in which a team facing elimination won in extra innings. The Rays have now forced a Game 5 on Wednesday night at Tropicana Field, where they will try to send the series back to Milwaukee still alive.