ST. PETERSBURG -- The Rays came into Tuesday knowing the math was brutal.
No club has ever dug out of the hole they were sitting in for the World Series. Still, they showed up with no interest in watching Milwaukee celebrate on their field.
That stance paid off in a 4-3, 12-inning win in Game 4, a survival night that kept Tampa Bay alive and delivered its first Fall Classic victory since Game 4 of the 2020 World Series.
Yandy Díaz set the tone before Griffin Jax threw the first pitch, putting the mindset plainly: “It’s going to be hard to come back from this, but it’s not impossible.”
The Rays had already taken the first punch a night earlier, getting blown out 10-1 in Game 3, so they needed something to change fast. They got it in the second inning when Chandler Simpson, after being moved into the sixth spot by manager Kevin Cash, lashed a double down the right-field line off Dustin May. Jonny DeLuca scored all the way from first, giving Tampa Bay its first lead since Game 2 in Milwaukee.
That mattered in a park where the Rays have been nearly unbeatable. Their 55-26 home mark matched Milwaukee for the best in the majors, and teams that score first have gone 26-13 this postseason.
DeLuca kept making noise on both sides of the ball. In the fourth, he raced in to make a diving catch that robbed William Contreras of a hit, then later helped create another run when he chopped a grounder to third.
David Hamilton went for the tag on Junior Caminero, but Caminero got to third safely and then scored after Hamilton’s throw to first was wild. A review confirmed Hamilton never got the tag down.
Milwaukee did answer in that fourth inning, with Cooper Pratt drilling a two-out RBI double against Jax to put the Brewers on the board. Pratt would make a much louder impact later, but DeLuca’s defensive play may have loomed larger than it first looked.
The Rays kept themselves in range long enough for the bullpen to do its part. Bryan Baker, appearing in the World Series for the first time, worked a clean eighth in just eight pitches after not pitching since the clinching Game 6 of the American League Championship Series against Cleveland on Oct. 19.
He also handled the ninth after Garrett Mitchell sent a deep fly to left with one out. Simpson tracked it down with a leaping catch near the wall, preserving the tie as Tampa Bay tried to hang on.
Then came the part that looked like it might finish them anyway. Pratt launched a home run in the 12th, pushing Milwaukee ahead and putting Tampa Bay back on the brink.
But the Rays refused to fold. Junior Caminero reached on Joey Ortiz’s throwing error, Liam Hicks singled to left and moved Caminero to third, and Jonny DeLuca followed with a single to center that scored pinch-runner Cedric Mullins with the tying run.
The Rays are still in a hole that history almost never lets teams escape. Of the 25 teams that have fallen behind 3-0 in a best-of-seven World Series, none have made it to Game 6, and only the 1910 Cubs, 1937 Giants, 1970 Reds and 2024 Yankees forced a Game 5. But Tampa Bay bought another day, and for one long night at Tropicana Field, that was enough.
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