The Milwaukee Brewers spent 57 seasons chasing their first World Series title. Cooper Pratt turned a first-year run in the majors into a place in baseball history.
The 22-year-old rookie shortstop was back in the middle of it Wednesday night, helping Milwaukee beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 in Game 5 to lock up the first championship in franchise history. Pratt went 2-for-5 with two RBIs, but his biggest mark on the night came from a record that had lasted since 1978.
He became the first rookie in World Series history to get hits in six straight at-bats.
That run started with the kind of swing that can swing a championship. In Game 4 on Tuesday night, with the Brewers ahead 3-0 in the series, Pratt launched a go-ahead home run in the top of the 12th inning and pushed Milwaukee within three outs of the title. Instead, Tampa Bay fought back for two runs in the bottom of the inning and stole a 4-3 win, even as Pratt finished with four hits.
He picked up right where he left off the next night. Pratt singled home Brice Turang in the second inning to put Milwaukee in front 1-0, and that hit gave him five straight, tying the rookie World Series mark set by Brian Doyle of the 1978 New York Yankees.
Then he broke it.
In the fifth inning, Pratt beat Tampa Bay reliever Kevin Kelly for another single, giving him six consecutive hits across the two games. MLB said the last player of any experience level to do that in a World Series was Boston Red Sox legend David Ortiz in 2013. Pratt later added a sacrifice fly as Milwaukee built a 4-0 lead.
What makes the stretch even more eye-catching is how little major league seasoning he brought into October. Pratt made his debut on June 16, then played 74 regular-season games and hit .281 with three home runs, 34 RBIs and 19 stolen bases.
Nothing in those numbers screamed that a historic Fall Classic was coming. But Pratt finished the series 8-for-19 with a home run and seven RBIs, and his hits came in the kind of spots that define a championship run. He nearly won Game 4 with that 12th-inning homer, then helped deliver the early edge in the clincher.
William Contreras took home World Series MVP honors, but Pratt’s name will sit right next to this title run. Milwaukee finished the regular season with an MLB-best 103 wins, went 11-2 in the postseason, and closed it out behind 5 2/3 scoreless innings from Jacob Misiorowski, with Pratt driving in two of the Brewers’ four runs.
For a franchise that had not been back to the World Series since 1982, it was a long-awaited breakthrough. For Pratt, it was a stunning arrival.
He came into June without a major league appearance. By the end of October, he had a championship ring and a World Series record that had stood for 48 years.
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