Brewers Rout Rays 10-1 to Move One Win From First World Series Title

The Milwaukee Brewers are one victory away from the first World Series championship in franchise history after beating the Tampa Bay Rays 10-1 on Monday night. A trio of young players who have thrived this October, outfielder Jackson Chourio, infielder Brice Turang and rookie left-hander Robert Gasser, drove the win and gave Milwaukee a 3-0 lead in the Fall Classic.

Chourio, 22, went 4 for 5 with a double and has eight hits in three Series games. Manager Pat Murphy called him "tremendous. Locked in." Chourio said he treated every at-bat as if it could be his last. He became the second-youngest player to collect four hits and a stolen base in a World Series game, behind Ty Cobb in 1908.

Gasser was nearly untouchable. He allowed a leadoff single to Yandy Díaz in the bottom of the first, then retired 14 batters in a row before Victor Mesa Jr. walked to open the sixth. Aided by a caught stealing and a double play, Gasser faced the minimum 18 batters through six innings. He is the first starter to do so in a World Series game since Arizona's Curt Schilling in 2001, and the first lefty since Sandy Koufax of the Dodgers in 1965. He has allowed one run in 15 innings across three road starts this postseason.

The game turned in the fifth, when Milwaukee strung together a postseason-record seven straight hits, all with two outs. Chourio singled with one out and stole second with two outs. After a walk to Christian Yelich, Rays starter Freddy Peralta left once William Contreras beat out an infield single to load the bases. An apparent forceout at second base was overturned on replay review, and Cam Booser came in to pitch.

Turang then hit a liner that shortstop Taylor Walls could not handle, and it rolled into shallow center for a two-run single. "Knife to the chest," Walls said. Garrett Mitchell added an RBI single, Cooper Pratt hit a two-run double, and Sal Frelick doubled in another run to make it 8-0. David Hamilton and Chourio later drove in runs against Cole Sulser. It was the first time in World Series history that a team scored eight two-out runs in a single inning.

Peralta, the MVP of the American League Championship Series against Cleveland, was charged with five runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings against his former team. Rays manager Kevin Cash said the pitcher was "a little out of sync." Milwaukee finished with 16 hits and won its eighth straight game, tying the record for a single postseason.

Tampa Bay now faces long odds. Of the 43 earlier major league teams to fall behind 3-0 in a best-of-seven postseason series, only the 2004 Boston Red Sox came back to win, doing so against the New York Yankees in the ALCS. Cash said the Rays' only option is to win Tuesday. Of the 25 teams that took a 3-0 World Series lead, 21 swept and four won in five games.

Brandon Woodruff pitched the ninth for the Brewers in his first appearance in 3 1/2 months, after a shoulder injury that was originally thought to require surgery. The Brewers, who led the majors with 103 wins, beat the Padres in the NLDS and swept the Dodgers in the NLCS. A win in Game 4 would make them the first team to sweep both an LCS and the World Series since the 1976 Cincinnati Reds.

Game 4 is Tuesday night at Tropicana Field, where many Brewers fans were seated behind the visitors' dugout on Monday. Tampa Bay, which led the AL with 98 wins, has never won a World Series in 29 seasons. Griffin Jax is scheduled to start for the Rays, and Milwaukee had not yet named a starter. "We have one more to lock in for tomorrow to complete the mission," Chourio said.