Down to their final three outs and facing the end of their season, the Tampa Bay Rays refused to go quietly. In a tense, 12-inning marathon at Tropicana Field on Tuesday night, pinch-hitter Ben Williamson delivered a walk-off single that gave the Rays a 4-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers, forcing a Game 5 and keeping the 2026 World Series alive.
The Brewers still hold a commanding 3-1 series lead and remain one win from their first championship in franchise history. But for one night, the ball bounced Tampa Bay’s way.
The game stayed tight from the outset. Chandler Simpson’s RBI double in the second put the Rays ahead 1-0. Milwaukee answered in the fourth when Cooper Pratt doubled home a run, and David Hamilton’s solo home run in the fifth knotted the score at 2-2. From there, both bullpens took over. Aaron Ashby extended his postseason scoreless streak to a record 18 innings for a reliever, while the Rays mixed and matched arms, including two scoreless innings from Game 1 starter Nick Martinez.
In the top of the 12th, Pratt—already with three hits on the night—led off against Ian Seymour and crushed a solo home run to left-center, giving Milwaukee a 3-2 lead and putting the Brewers three outs from a sweep. The Trop roared with visiting fans sensing history.
The bottom half told a different story. Junior Caminero reached on a throwing error by Joey Ortiz. Liam Hicks singled, Jonny DeLuca followed with an RBI single to tie the game, and Chandler Simpson loaded the bases. Williamson then chopped a high bouncer over the drawn-in infield into right field, scoring pinch-runner Nick Fortes for the winning run. It was the 17th walk-off win in World Series history by a team facing elimination, and only the second by a club staring down a sweep (the first since the 1910 Cubs).
“We’ve got one more day,” a Rays reliever said afterward. “Now let’s make it two more days.”
Game 5 is set for Wednesday night at Tropicana Field (8 p.m. ET, FOX). Milwaukee will start ace Jacob Misiorowski, the presumptive NL Cy Young winner who posted a 1.80 ERA and led the majors in strikeouts during the regular season. He allowed one run over five innings in Game 1 and will pitch on four days’ rest. Manager Pat Murphy preserved him during Tuesday’s extras rather than burn him in a one-run situation with a 3-0 lead.
Tampa Bay will counter with Drew Rasmussen on three days’ rest—his first short-rest start since working as a multi-inning reliever in 2024. The right-hander, who went 16-5 with a 2.67 ERA in the regular season and has been strong this postseason, lasted 3⅔ innings in Game 2. With Martinez already used and the bullpen taxed by seven arms on Tuesday, Rasmussen represents Tampa Bay’s best remaining option to keep the season alive.
The Rays become the fifth team in World Series history to force a Game 5 after falling behind 3-0. None of the previous four advanced to Game 6. Milwaukee, which swept the Dodgers in the NLCS and has shown dominant pitching and timely hitting throughout the postseason, still holds every mathematical advantage. One more win ends the series in St. Petersburg. Anything less sends it back to Milwaukee for a potential Game 6 on Friday.
For one more night, at least, the Rays have life—and the baseball season continues.
