Williamson’s 12th-inning single keeps Tampa Bay alive in the World Series

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Milwaukee reached the bottom of the 12th inning Tuesday three outs from a World Series championship. Tampa Bay finished that half-inning with another game to play. Ben Williamson’s pinch-hit single drove in the winning run as the Rays beat the Brewers 4–3 in Game 4 at Tropicana Field, ending a long night with a rally that prevented a sweep.

The Brewers still lead the series 3–1 and can win the championship Wednesday. Game 5 is scheduled for 7 p.m. Chicago time at Tropicana Field. Tampa Bay’s victory guarantees that appointment, but nothing beyond it: the Rays remain one loss from elimination and still need another home win to send the series back to Milwaukee.

Cooper Pratt had put the Brewers ahead with a solo home run to begin the top of the 12th. The rookie finished four for five with two RBIs, including the earlier double that first brought Milwaukee level. His home run changed a game that had been tied since the fifth inning into a championship opportunity, but the Brewers could not complete the final three outs with that advantage intact.

The bottom half began when Junior Caminero reached on a throwing error by Joey Ortiz. That play gave Tampa Bay a runner before its run of singles began. Liam Hicks followed with a hit, and Cedric Mullins entered to run for Caminero. Jonny DeLuca then singled to center to score Mullins and tie the game at 3–3, removing Milwaukee’s immediate chance to finish the series in that inning.

Chandler Simpson’s single loaded the bases. Williamson, batting for Victor Mesa Jr., followed with a ground-ball single into right field that brought home Nick Fortes. Fortes had entered as a pinch-runner for Hicks. Four consecutive singles followed the inning-opening error, turning a 3–2 deficit into a walk-off victory without Tampa Bay having to record an out in the rally.

The sequence made the distinction between reaching base and finishing the job unusually sharp. Milwaukee had supplied the inning’s first major hit through Pratt, but Tampa Bay kept the next four offensive plays moving in the same direction. The error created access; the singles converted it. Williamson’s final hit mattered because the preceding hitters had continued the inning and advanced the winning run into position.

Shane Drohan faced those four hitters without recording an out after entering with a runner already aboard. Milwaukee’s pitching had navigated a long stretch at 2–2, but the last change could not stop Tampa Bay from putting the ball in play. For the Rays, it was a reversal of the previous night’s result, when an eight-run Milwaukee inning had left them with no realistic late response.

The earlier scoring had moved in smaller increments. Simpson doubled home DeLuca in the second inning for a 1–0 Tampa Bay lead. Pratt’s fourth-inning double scored Sal Frelick to tie it. Caminero then scored in the bottom of the fourth on a play involving a David Hamilton throwing error, restoring the Rays’ advantage before Hamilton answered with a solo home run in the fifth.

That fifth-inning homer established the 2–2 score that lasted through the end of regulation and two extra innings. Neither side could turn its next opportunities into a deciding run until Pratt’s 12th-inning shot. Tampa Bay’s response then made that home run the beginning of the final exchange rather than the last consequential swing of the night.

The Rays finished with nine hits and the Brewers with eight. Milwaukee committed two errors, both costly in a one-run game, while Tampa Bay had one. The difference in the hit totals was small; the timing and consequence of the mistakes were much larger. An extra baserunner in the 12th placed an immediate burden on Milwaukee’s next pitcher, and Tampa Bay followed it with contact that kept that burden growing.

For Milwaukee, the next game begins from a position that is still favorable but no longer untouched by a loss. The Brewers need one more win, and their official Game 4 account identifies Jacob Misiorowski as the planned Game 5 starter. Tampa Bay’s pitching plan was less settled after the long bullpen effort. Those are Wednesday’s decisions; Tuesday’s result establishes only that both teams must return to the field.

The Rays have not erased a 3–0 deficit. They have taken the first required step by winning a game in which they trailed in the 12th and were facing elimination. That distinction keeps the scale of the task clear while recognizing what the rally accomplished: Williamson’s single turned a night that could have ended the season into another opportunity to continue it.

For Chicago-area viewers following the championship, Wednesday’s 7 p.m. start is another potential clincher for Milwaukee. For Tampa Bay, it is another elimination game. Game 4 changed the series by extending it, with Pratt’s four-hit night and go-ahead homer ultimately outweighed by one error and four consecutive Rays singles in the final half-inning.