Rays stave off elimination with 12th-inning walk-off win, force World Series Game 5

ST. PETERSBURG · The Tampa Bay Rays avoided a World Series sweep with a stunning 4-3, 12-inning victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night at Tropicana Field. Pinch-hitter Ben Williamson delivered a walk-off single with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 12th, capping a two-run rally after Milwaukee had taken the lead in the top half of the inning. The win forces a Game 5 on Wednesday night and makes Tampa Bay just the fifth team in 26 attempts to win Game 4 after falling behind 3-0 in the World Series. Only one team, the 2004 Boston Red Sox, has ever rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven postseason series.

Milwaukee rookie Cooper Pratt appeared to have delivered the championship-clinching hit, launching a solo home run off Ian Seymour in the top of the 12th to put the Brewers ahead 3-2. The Brewers were three outs away from the first World Series title in franchise history. The Rays, however, mounted an immediate comeback in the bottom half against reliever Antonio Senzatela and lefty Shane Drohan. Junior Caminero reached on a throwing error by third baseman Joey Ortiz to start the inning, and Liam Hicks followed with a single.

Caminero, who came up limping after reaching first, was replaced by pinch-runner Cedric Mullins. Jonny DeLuca then tied the game with a single to centre field. Chandler Simpson, after failing to get a bunt down, lashed a single to load the bases. Williamson, who had been 1 for 15 in the postseason, then chopped the first pitch from Drohan over first baseman Jake Bauers and into right field to score Mullins with the winning run. "It's what you dream of growing up," Williamson said. "You play Wiffle ball in the backyard with your friends and you're dreaming of hitting a walk-off ball in the World Series."

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Rays manager Kevin Cash joked about the decisive hit. "That was totally what I told him to do," Cash said. "Good listening." The manager stressed that his team's focus was simply on winning the day. "We're in an underdog position already, down 3-0, I feel like we've just been playing so free," said DeLuca. "Like, there's really nothing to lose, so just go out there balls to the wall and compete and do anything to win the game."

The dramatic finish came after a tense, back-and-forth contest that featured 15 pitchers and lasted four hours and 20 minutes. Simpson had given Tampa Bay an early lead with an RBI double in the second inning. Pratt tied it with an RBI double in the fourth, but Caminero restored the Rays' lead in the bottom of the fourth, scoring on a fielder's choice and a throwing error. Milwaukee's David Hamilton tied the game again with a solo home run in the fifth.

The Rays' defence, which had been uncharacteristically sloppy in the first three games, was stellar. Taylor Walls made a diving stop to rob Brice Turang in the first, and DeLuca made two terrific catches in the outfield. In the ninth, Simpson leaped against the left-field wall to snare a Garrett Mitchell smash. Later in the inning, catcher Liam Hicks threw out Pratt trying to steal second, with a replay review overturning an initial safe call to end the frame. Hicks said he tried to be optimistic about the challenge but braced for the worst as he watched the replay.

Hicks said the mood in the Rays dugout after Pratt's go-ahead homer in the 12th was grim but determined. He said it was not great and called the homer a gut punch, but added that no one was ready to go home yet. He said the team showed all year it is never out of any game and would keep battling. Brewers manager Pat Murphy said his players understand it is going to be hard, noting the Brewers had some things go their way in Game 3 and the Rays had things go their way in Game 4.

Both teams face a quick turnaround and depleted pitching staffs for Game 5. The Brewers will start ace Jacob Misiorowski. The Rays, who used Game 1 starter Nick Martinez for two innings of relief on Tuesday, did not immediately name a starter. Cash said he would check who was available, guessing most pitchers would say they are capable of an inning or more. Milwaukee's Jackson Chourio continued his hot hitting, going 2-for-6 to give him 10 hits in the series, tying Babe Ruth's record from 1928 for the most in the first four games of a World Series.

With files from Sportsnet, CBC News and The Globe and Mail