Brewers vs. Rays: Eight Two-Out Runs in the Fifth Power Milwaukee to a 10-1 Rout in World Series Game 3

Robert Gasser was sitting in the visitors' dugout at Tropicana Field with two outs in the fifth inning, glove ready, waiting to go protect a 2-0 lead. He waited. And waited. Seven consecutive two-out hits later, he finally got to jog back out to the mound with a 10-0 cushion.

That fifth inning broke the World Series open and maybe broke the Rays, too. The Milwaukee Brewers scored eight times with two outs, Gasser carried a one-hitter through six innings, and Milwaukee crushed the Tampa Bay Rays 10-1 on Monday night to take a 3-0 series lead. The Brewers are one win from the first World Series title in franchise history.

"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."

A Quiet Start, Then a Two-Out Avalanche

For four innings this looked like another tight one. Milwaukee scored first in the third against Freddy Peralta, the ALCS MVP facing his former team, when Christian Yelich singled to left to score Jackson Chourio and William Contreras singled to right to score Jake Bauers. Contreras was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double, and it stayed 2-0 into the fifth.

In the fifth, Chourio singled with one out and stole second after the second out. Yelich walked. Contreras chopped one to third, and Junior Caminero's throw to second seemed to get Yelich for the third out. Milwaukee challenged, replay flipped the call to safe, and Contreras had an infield single with the bases loaded. Peralta was done.

"You could potentially beat the throw," Yelich said, explaining the extra-long lead that made the reversal possible.

The Rays went to Cam Booser, and the bases turned into a revolving door.

Brice Turang's two-run single came on a short-hop rocket that shortstop Taylor Walls could not handle. Garrett Mitchell singled home Contreras. Cooper Pratt doubled past a diving Caminero for two more. Sal Frelick doubled to left to make it 8-0. Even a pitching change could not stop it: David Hamilton greeted Cole Sulser with a run-scoring single, and Chourio capped the inning with an RBI double to right.

"Knife to the chest," Walls said.

Seven straight hits, all with two outs: a postseason record. No team in World Series history had ever scored eight runs in a single inning after two were out. It felt like binge-watching a show where every episode ends with another Brewer crossing the plate.

The Turning Point: One Replay Review

Everything traces back to Yelich's slide into second. If the force call stands, the inning ends at 2-0. Instead, the bases were loaded, and Tampa Bay never recovered. Booser recorded zero outs and was charged with four runs on four hits.

"It's definitely deflating," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "How could it not be?"

Gasser Makes History of His Own

Lost in the fireworks was a historic start. Yandy Díaz's leadoff liner in the first was the only hit Tampa Bay managed against Gasser, a rookie left-hander. After that, 14 straight Rays went down before Victor Mesa Jr. drew a walk in the sixth. With a caught stealing and a double play wiping away both baserunners, Gasser faced the minimum 18 batters through six innings.

The last starter to do that in a World Series game was Arizona's Curt Schilling in 2001. The last lefty was Sandy Koufax for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1965. He also became the first Milwaukee starter to record an out in the sixth inning this postseason.

His line: six innings, one hit, no runs, one walk, three strikeouts, 75 pitches. Over three postseason starts, all on the road, he has allowed one run in 15 innings.

He also had backup. "Normally it's 35,000 against nine, but tonight we had 20,000 people behind us," Gasser said.

Chourio Keeps Climbing

Chourio started the fifth-inning rally and finished it, and the 22-year-old ended the night 4 for 5 with a double, a stolen base, two runs and an RBI. Among players with four hits plus a steal in a World Series game, only Ty Cobb in 1908 was younger. He now has eight hits through three Series games.

"He was tremendous. Locked in. Gives us a big lift," manager Pat Murphy said.

"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," Chourio said through a translator.

Turang and Contreras each went 3 for 5. Eight of the nine Milwaukee starters drove in a run, and every one of them reached base. The Brewers piled up 16 hits without a single home run, which is about as on-brand as it gets for this team.

Stats That Matter

• 8: Two-out runs in the fifth inning, a first in World Series history.
• 7: Straight hits in the fifth, all with two outs, a postseason record.
• 18: Batters faced by Gasser through six innings, the minimum.
• 8: Straight wins for Milwaukee, tying the record for a single postseason.
• 3: Hits for the Rays all night.

What It Means

Milwaukee leads the Series 3-0, and history says this ends soon: 21 of the 25 previous teams to go up 3-0 in a World Series swept, and the other four closed it out in five games. The only club in 43 tries to come back from 3-0 down in a best-of-seven postseason series is the 2004 Boston Red Sox, who did it to the New York Yankees in the ALCS.

A win in Game 4 on Tuesday night would make the Brewers the first team to sweep an LCS and a World Series since the 1976 Cincinnati Reds. Griffin Jax is scheduled to start for Tampa Bay; Milwaukee had not named its starter.

Brandon Woodruff, a two-time All-Star, pitched the ninth in his first appearance in 3 1/2 months after a shoulder injury, allowing the lone Tampa Bay run.

The Rays, back at the Trop for their first World Series game there since 2008 and wearing their white Devil Rays throwbacks, gave a sellout crowd of 40,388 almost nothing to ring a cowbell about.

Closing Take

Cash reached for a poker metaphor.

"It's kind of that chip and a chair mentality," Cash said. "We've got a seat at the table. We've got to do something with the chip."

One chip. Four wins needed. Chourio, meanwhile, already sounds like a guy measuring the trophy.

"We've been preparing for this day a lot," he said. "We have one more to lock in for tomorrow to complete the mission."

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