The Tampa Bay Rays trailed from the first inning of Game 1 of the World Series and were outhit 8-7, yet they still finished Friday's 3-2 loss in Milwaukee with the tying run on third base. What separated the teams was what each did with runners in scoring position.
The Rays were hitless in six such at-bats, according to The Associated Press, while Milwaukee went 2 for 8 per MLB's box score, and the Rays' two runs both came home on ground balls. That left them down 1-0 in the series heading into Game 2 on Saturday night at American Family Field.
The ninth inning
The last of those grounders nearly ended the game. Trailing 3-1 against Brewers closer Trevor Megill, the Rays loaded the bases with one out on singles by Jonathan Aranda and Chandler Simpson, a double steal by Simpson and pinch-runner Jorge Mateo, and a full-count walk to Junior Caminero.
Liam Hicks then bounced a ball to the right side that the umpires initially called a double play to end the game. Fireworks went off and the Brewers spilled out of the dugout before a replay review found shortstop Cooper Pratt's foot had come off second base, the AP reported.
The call was reversed, Mateo's run counted, and the Rays had runners on second and third.
Megill finished it by striking out Jonny DeLuca on a 2-2 pitch.
"This is an extremely confident group," Rays manager Kevin Cash told reporters afterward. "I think the frustration comes from we were one swing of the bat away right at the end of potentially taking the lead."
Where the other chances went
Aranda reached base in all four plate appearances, with three hits and a walk. Hicks finished with both Tampa Bay RBIs and no hits; his fourth-inning groundout scored Aranda for the Rays' first run, according to MLB's official play-by-play.
Two more Rays baserunners were erased on the bases. Milwaukee catcher William Contreras threw out Victor Mesa Jr. trying to steal third in the fifth, then caught Aranda trying to steal second on a strikeout of Simpson in the sixth for a double play.
After the sixth, Tampa Bay did not put another runner on base until the ninth, as Abner Uribe and Aaron Ashby combined for three scoreless innings out of the Milwaukee bullpen.
