Brewers rout the Rays 10-1 to move within a win of their first World Series title

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Jackson Chourio set the tone at the plate, Brice Turang sparked an historic offensive outburst and Robert Gasser shut the door on the mound.

The Milwaukee Brewers are one victory from their first World Series title after routing the Tampa Bay Rays 10-1 on Monday night thanks to a trio of young players who have shined in October.

Chourio bookended Milwaukee’s eight-run fifth inning with two of his four hits, and Turang’s two-run single opened a barrage of scoring with two outs.

“He was tremendous. Locked in. Gives us a big lift,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said about Chourio, who has eight hits in three World Series games.

Gasser, the rookie left-hander, pitched one-hit ball and faced the minimum through six innings as Milwaukee rolled to a 3-0 lead in the Fall Classic. Game 4 is Tuesday night at Tropicana Field, where many Brewers fans showed up Monday and cheered from behind the visitors’ dugout.

“It is really cool when you go on the road in such an intense atmosphere to have that support,” Gasser said. “Normally it’s 35,000 against nine, but tonight we had 20,000 people behind us.”

Gasser allowed a line-drive single to Yandy Díaz leading off the bottom of the first and then retired 14 straight before Victor Mesa Jr. walked to begin the Tampa Bay sixth.

With the help of a caught stealing and a double play, Gasser became the first starter to face the minimum 18 batters through six innings of a World Series game since Arizona’s Curt Schilling in 2001 — and the first lefty to do it since Sandy Koufax for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1965.

Chourio finished 4 for 5 with a double. Turang and William Contreras each went 3 for 5 as Milwaukee racked up 16 hits off “Fastball Freddy” Peralta and five relievers to win its eighth straight postseason game and fourth in a row on the road.

“I think that you could say this is one of my better games,” Chourio said through a translator. “Really I was just taking every at-bat like it could be my last and trying to find any way I could to get on base. Because I know, as long as I get on base, there’s guys behind me who could score.”

Of the 43 previous major league teams to fall behind 3-0 in a best-of-seven postseason series, only the 2004 Boston Red Sox rallied to win four straight when they beat the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series.

“It’s kind of that chip and a chair mentality,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “We’ve got a seat at the table. We’ve got to do something with the chip. Obviously the only thing we can do is win tomorrow.”

Gasser became the first starter for Milwaukee to get an out in the sixth inning this postseason. He’s allowed one run in 15 innings over three starts, all on the road.

Peralta, the MVP of the ALCS against Cleveland, ran out of gas against the Brewers. He was charged with five runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings against his former team.

“Just a little out of sync. I think he felt really good. Tried to power through it a little bit,” Cash said. “Just inconsistencies in and out of the strike zone led to a bunch of really good at-bats by the Brewer lineup.”

After a pair of tense, down-to-the-final-pitch, one-run games in Milwaukee, the Brewers put this one out of reach in the fifth with a postseason-record seven straight hits — all with two outs.

It was the first time in World Series history a team scored eight two-out runs in one inning.

“I was sitting in the dugout getting ready to go. There was two outs, and next thing you know, 40 minutes later, I have to go out on the field,” Gasser said. “It was special. I had a smile on my face the whole time. It’s just surreal when something like that happens.”

Chourio began the rally with a one-out single and then stole second with two outs. Christian Yelich walked, and Peralta exited after Contreras’ infield single loaded the bases.

The inning appeared to end when third baseman Junior Caminero fielded Contreras’ bouncer and threw to second base for a forceout. But the call at second was overturned after a replay review, and Cam Booser entered.

Turang ripped a liner that shortstop Taylor Walls couldn’t short hop. It bounced off his glove and rolled into shallow center field for a two-run single.

“Knife to the chest,” Walls said.

Garrett Mitchell followed with an RBI single, Cooper Pratt grounded a two-run double down the left-field line and Sal Frelick lined a run-scoring double to make it 8-0.

“It’s definitely deflating,” Cash said. “How could it not be?”

Cole Sulser replaced Booser and allowed an RBI single to David Hamilton and an RBI double to Chourio, who became the second-youngest player with four hits and a stolen base in a World Series game behind Ty Cobb in 1908.

Murphy has compared Chourio to Pro Basketball Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant.

“Kobe was one of the best basketball players of all-time,” Chourio said. “I had the opportunity to read his book, some of it at least, but the discipline he had, I think that’s what you try to do from the great ones. You just take little things you can take from them and implement it into your own game. Hopefully I’m doing a little bit of that.”

Brandon Woodruff pitched the ninth for the Brewers, allowing one run and two hits in his first appearance in 3 1/2 months. The two-time All-Star had been sidelined by a shoulder injury that originally was thought to require surgery.

Of the 25 previous teams who took a 3-0 lead in the World Series, 21 swept and four won in five games.

Originally the Seattle Pilots for one season in 1969, the franchise moved to Milwaukee and was renamed the Brewers in 1970. Their only other trip to the World Series came as an AL team and ended with a loss to St. Louis in Game 7 in 1982.

Led by the 67-year-old Murphy, the Brewers need just one more win to finally end their championship drought.

The Rays led the AL with 98 wins in the regular season, swept the Yankees in three games in the Division Series and beat the Guardians in six games in the ALCS.

But they made uncharacteristic mistakes on the bases and defense during the first two games in Milwaukee, and completely unraveled at home.

Tampa Bay also has never won a World Series in 29 seasons. The Rays lost to the Phillies in five games in 2008 and to the Dodgers in six games in 2020.

Wearing their white Devil Rays uniforms, they were eager to play in front of their home fans at the quirky, cavernous Trop, which had its roof shredded by Hurricane Milton in October 2024 and needed major renovations.

But their cowbell-ringing, towel-waving fans among a sellout crowd of 40,388 couldn’t lift them past the surging Brewers.

Milwaukee led the majors with 103 wins, beat the Padres in four games in their NLDS and swept the Dodgers in the NLCS. With a win in Game 4, the Brewers would become the first team to sweep an LCS and World Series since the 1976 Cincinnati Reds.

Griffin Jax is scheduled to start Game 4 for Tampa Bay. The Brewers hadn’t announced a starter.

“We’ve been preparing for this day a lot,” Chourio said. “We have one more to lock in for tomorrow to complete the mission.”

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Rob Maaddi, The Associated Press