The Brewers were one swing away from the finish line, and Cooper Pratt kept putting them there.
In a 4-3 loss to the Rays in Tampa on Tuesday night, the 22-year-old rookie shortstop delivered the kind of performance that can define a postseason run: four hits, capped by a go-ahead 396-foot homer in the 12th inning. It was a huge moment for a player who has spent this season answering questions about whether he was ready for this stage.
Cooper Pratt is the first rookie in World Series history with four hits in a potential clincher
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) October 28, 2026
h/t @EliasSports https://t.co/z8ZUlkHRJe
Pratt’s path to this spotlight has not been smooth. He was benched in August for not hustling in a game against the New York Mets, and he made multiple errors in the postseason that led some fans to wonder if he could handle the pressure. On Tuesday, he answered in the loudest way possible.
His four-hit night made history, too. Per Sarah Langs, Pratt became the first rookie to ever collect four hits in a potential title-clincher.
Milwaukee had looked ready to celebrate after Pratt’s blast in the 12th, but the Rays pushed back in the bottom of the inning after a Joey Ortiz throwing error and kept their season alive. The Brewers’ first World Series title will have to wait, at least for another night.
That kind of back-and-forth has defined Milwaukee’s run. This is a team that keeps getting hit and keeps answering, from rebounding after a National League Championship Series sweep at the hands of the Dodgers to the way it has fought through the 2026 World Series. David Hamilton’s fifth-inning homer after a costly error was another example of that same trait.
Pratt has been right in the middle of it. He helped spark a comeback win in Game 2, then followed it up with his best game yet in Game 4. The Brewers still need one more push, but their rookie shortstop has already carved out his own place in this story.
Game 5 is Wednesday, with first pitch set for approximately 8 p.m. ET.
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Brewers Rookie Looked Ready To Clinch It Until Everything Unraveled
For a few tense minutes in Game 4 of the World Series, it looked like Cooper Pratt had delivered the kind of breakthrough swing Milwaukee could build around. The rookie came through in the 12th inning with a go-ahead homer that put the Brewers ahead 3-2, a moment that seemed to tilt a back-and-forth game firmly in their direction.
Instead, the finish turned into a collapse that sent the series to a fifth game. A defensive miscue cracked the door open, and the bullpen that had been so steady through the postseason could not close it, with left-hander Shane Drohan taking the loss after Tampa Bay strung together four straight hits. For Milwaukee, it was the kind of ending that lingers - one that left a rookie's big swing buried under a far messier final inning. [Read more 🡒]