The Tampa Bay Rays entered Tuesday night in the worst position in sports – down 3-0 in the World Series with a nearly impossible hill to climb to achieve the improbable.
The Rays took care of business in Game 4, topping the Milwaukee Brewers in extra innings to pick up their first win of the series. Only one team in MLB history has come back to win a series being down 3-0 – the 2004 Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees. The Red Sox went on to win the title and end the “Curse of the Bambino.”
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Tampa Bay’s victory in Game 4 put the team in good company.
The Rays became the fourth team in World Series history to avoid elimination with an extra-inning comeback, according to Opta STATS. The franchise joined the 1912 Red Sox, 1986 New York Mets and 2011 St. Louis Cardinals. Each of those three teams won the World Series. However, none of those teams were ever down 3-0.
“We’ve got a lot of fight in us. We’re never going to shy away,” Rays outfielder Chandler Simpson said. “We were going to keep fighting until the end — the last inning, the last out, the last play, the last pitch.”
The Rays trailed 3-2 going into the bottom of the 12th. An error from the Brewers gave the Rays enough momentum to load the bases.
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Ben Williamson came through in the clutch, hitting a single the other way and plating Nick Fortes.
“It just shows the resiliency of this group,” Williamson said. “We continue to fight, and that’s been the motto this series and this full season, is just fight.”
Winning Game 5 sure as hell isn’t going to be easy.
Two-time All-Star and National League Cy Young Award favorite Jacob Misiorowski will take the bump for the Brewers. He allowed one run on four hits in five innings as the Brewers won Game 1.
Now, Misiorowski can send his team home happy or a little worried about a potential historic comeback.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.