World Series Game 4: Rays rally in 12th to stay alive

Tampa Bay Rays fans got a reprieve Tuesday night. The team was down to its final three outs before a Milwaukee Brewers championship celebration began, then rallied in the bottom of the 12th inning to win 4-3 at Tropicana Field and push the World Series to a fifth game. The game ran 4 hours, 20 minutes.

The Brewers appeared ready to close out a sweep. Cooper Pratt, a 22-year-old rookie who joined the big leagues in June, hit a home run off Ian Seymour in the top of the 12th to give Milwaukee a 3-2 lead. Pratt finished with four hits in the game. Milwaukee had swept the Los Angeles Dodgers earlier in the playoffs and was seeking its first championship in 57 years.

Then Milwaukee's defense failed. With no outs in the bottom of the 12th, third baseman Joey Ortiz threw wide of first on a grounder from Junior Caminero, and Jake Bauers could not handle it. Liam Hicks followed with a single to left, putting runners on the corners. Jonny DeLuca lined a Shane Drohan pitch back up the middle to tie the score, Chandler Simpson loaded the bases with a bunt single, and pinch hitter Ben Williamson drove in the winning run on his first swing.

The loss went to Milwaukee's pitching staff after the Brewers had emptied their bullpen. Both teams had used their top relievers by the 12th. Rays manager Kevin Cash turned to pinch hitters twice in the rally, using Hicks and Williamson.

The Rays had been outplayed through the first three games of the Series, committing errors and falling behind the Brewers. Milwaukee had not trailed in the series before Game 4.

Rays players described a season on the brink before the rally. Yandy Diaz, 35, the designated hitter, said the clubhouse message was simple: "We have tomorrow. We have a new day. We have life." Liam Hicks called the sequence "kind of a blur," adding, "We've done this all year. We haven't this series, but it's always there."

Pratt, who is from Mississippi, said he was trying to avoid a strikeout when he drove Seymour's pitch into the left-field seats. "I hit the thing and I was like, oh my gosh. That's gone," Pratt said. "I was just trying not to strike out. That was probably one of the coolest swings of my life."

Game 5 is set for Wednesday at Tropicana Field. The Rays can force the series back to Milwaukee with another win, or the Brewers can clinch the title. The game fell on the one-year anniversary of the Dodgers and Blue Jays playing 18 innings in a World Series game, and it came as baseball approaches a work stoppage over contract terms.