Brewers vs. Rays: Trevor Megill Survives a Replay Reversal as Milwaukee Wins World Series Game 1

Fireworks were already crackling over American Family Field. Brewers players had spilled onto the infield, Trevor Megill was roaring, and Bruce Springsteen's Glory Days had briefly started playing. A 4-6-3 double play had apparently ended Game 1 of the World Series.

Then the replay hit the videoboard, a sellout crowd of 43,250 went silent, and Milwaukee had to win the same game twice. Megill gathered himself, got Jonny DeLuca to swing through a 2-2 pitch with the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position, and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 3-2 on Friday night to take a 1-0 series lead. Milwaukee's first World Series game since 1982 came with an M. Night Shyamalan twist and a happy ending anyway.

Yelich Wastes No Time

The Brewers had a week off before this one, and the rust lasted about four batters. Jackson Chourio opened the bottom of the first with a single off Nick Martinez. One out later, team captain Christian Yelich stepped in for his first career World Series at-bat and lined a ball that a diving DeLuca could not glove in center. Chourio scored, Yelich steamed into third with an RBI triple, and William Contreras followed with a single to left that made it 2-0 before anybody's bratwurst got cold.

Martinez deserves credit for what came next. He blanked Milwaukee the rest of the way through five innings, finishing with five hits allowed, no walks and five strikeouts on 73 pitches.

Tampa Bay broke through in the fourth when Junior Caminero scorched a 112.7 mph double over center fielder Garrett Mitchell, putting two Rays in scoring position. Liam Hicks bounced out to first to score Jonathan Aranda, and it was 2-1. Jacob Misiorowski then got DeLuca to fly out, stranding the tying run at third.

Contreras Cancels the Track Meet

The Rays are the speed-and-pressure team in this Series, and Contreras took that personally. In the fifth, Victor Mesa Jr. took off for third with Yandy Díaz at the plate, and Contreras cut him down to end the inning and, as it turned out, Misiorowski's night. In the sixth, Aranda broke on a hit-and-run, Chandler Simpson swung through strike three, and Contreras fired to second in time to turn one pitch into two outs.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy put it plainly. "If anybody doesn't notice the contributions of Contreras, he was the player of the game," he said.

Milwaukee then grabbed the insurance run it would end up desperately needing. In the seventh, Chourio singled to right off Kevin Kelly to score Cooper Pratt, making it 3-1. Abner Uribe and Aaron Ashby split three innings of one-hit relief with five strikeouts, and Tampa Bay did not put another runner on base until the ninth.

The Ninth Inning That Happened Twice

Megill's first ninth was chaos. Aranda and Simpson started it with consecutive one-out singles. Pinch-runner Jorge Mateo and Simpson pulled off a double steal, and Caminero took ball four on a full-count pitch in the dirt to load the bases.

Hicks rolled a grounder to the right side. Brice Turang ranged to his left, threw to Pratt at second, and the relay to first completed what the umpires called a game-ending double play. Cue the pyrotechnics. Cue the hugs.

Then Tampa Bay challenged, and the MLB Replay Center found the problem: Pratt's right foot had come slightly off the bag as he reached for Turang's high throw. Umpire Alfonso Márquez changed the call at second to safe, Mateo's run counted, and the Brewers were back on the field at 3-2 with runners on second and third.

"Zoomed in and it didn't look good. It's all right. We picked up Cooper there," Megill said.

Pratt, a 22-year-old rookie, was not convinced. "Obviously, it was close," he said. "I just didn't think it was enough to overturn, so I wasn't thinking anything of it."

Megill's second ninth lasted one batter. DeLuca swung through the 2-2 pitch, and the party resumed. For real this time.

The Turning Point: Two Tying Runs Erased on the Bases

The reversal will own the highlight shows, but the Rays really lost this one in the fifth and sixth. Tampa Bay finished 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position, and Contreras wiped two tying runs off the bases before the Rays could cash either one in. In a game decided by a single run, that is the whole ballgame.

Rays manager Kevin Cash saw the other side of it. "I think the frustration comes from we were one swing of the bat away right at the end of potentially taking the lead," he said.

Star Turns

Jacob Misiorowski, the NL Cy Young Award favorite, finished with a season-low three strikeouts, but he gave up just one run on four hits over five innings, walked one, and earned the win. And his very first pitch of the night clocked in at 103.5 mph, the fastest pitch ever thrown in a World Series. "The adrenaline kind of took over, and I tensed up and threw it hard," Misiorowski said. "Then I settled down, and that was the game plan, to settle in and do me."

William Contreras went 2 for 3 with a walk and an RBI, and his arm turned the Rays' running game into a liability.

Jonathan Aranda was the lone Tampa Bay hitter who looked fully dialed in, going 3 for 3 with a walk and scoring the Rays' first run.

Trevor Megill earned the save the hard way: one inning, two hits, one walk, one run, one strikeout and one emotional reset.

Stats That Matter

• 103.5 mph: Misiorowski's first pitch, the fastest ever thrown in a World Series.
• 0 for 6: Tampa Bay with runners in scoring position.
• 2: Rays baserunners thrown out by Contreras.
• 2 RBIs, 0 hits: Hicks drove in both Tampa Bay runs on groundouts.
• 62.8%: The share of past World Series in which the Game 1 winner went on to take the title.

What It Means

Milwaukee leads the Series 1-0, and history leans its way. Both clubs are hunting a first championship, which makes this the first such World Series matchup since 1980, when the Phillies took down the Royals in six. Somebody is getting a brand-new trophy case.

Game 2 is Saturday night in Milwaukee, with Drew Rasmussen, 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA this postseason, going for Tampa Bay against Logan Henderson.

Closing Take

Leave it to baseball to let a team celebrate a Game 1 win, take it away on review and then hand it back one strikeout later. Pratt, whose right foot caused the whole detour, summed it up best after thanking his closer.

"That's what this game is. It's a game of pick-me-up. He picked me up today," Pratt said.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Postgame quotes as reported by the Associated Press and MLB.com.