The Brewers were three outs from the championship, and then one throw changed everything.
In the bottom of the 12th inning of Game 4 of the World Series on Tuesday, Milwaukee shortstop Joey Ortiz bounced a throw to first base. Jake Bauers couldn’t come up with it, and Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Junior Caminero reached safely. What looked like a routine error in the moment quickly turned into the crack in the door the Rays needed.
Milwaukee was still ahead 3-2 when Ortiz’s throw went astray, so the damage didn’t register right away. But the Brewers’ grip on the game slipped fast after that.
Rays catcher Liam Hicks followed with a single to left, moving Caminero to third. Jonny DeLuca then singled to center, bringing home Cedric Mullins, who had pinch-run for Caminero, and suddenly the game was tied.
Tampa Bay wasn’t finished. Chandler Simpson slapped another single to center to load the bases, and Ben Williamson delivered the knockout blow with an RBI single to right. Nick Fortes, running for Hicks, scored the winning run in a 4-3 Rays comeback.
“We continue to fight, and that's been the motto of this series and this whole season,” Williamson told Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal after the game.
Now the Rays head into Game 5 on Wednesday night still trailing 3-1 in the best-of-seven series. They’ll host Milwaukee and try to keep alive an impossible-seeming run, with the chance to become just the second team in MLB history, after the 2004 Boston Red Sox, to erase a 3-0 postseason deficit and win a series.
That kind of comeback remains a long shot. But if Tampa Bay somehow pulls it off, Ortiz’s throw to first will sit right at the center of it - the play that cracked open the Brewers’ chance to finish the job.
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