Rays Keep Comeback Hopes Alive With Game 4 Walk-Off Win

By Florida Home Vibes

AI-generated editorial illustration. Not a photograph of the game or Tropicana Field.

The Rays needed one win to keep their season alive. They got it, with an extra-inning finish worth staying up for.

Tampa Bay beat Milwaukee 4-3 in 12 innings in Game 4 on Tuesday night, with Ben Williamson delivering the walk-off single. The Brewers still lead the World Series 3-1, but the Rays have avoided the sweep and earned another night of baseball at Tropicana Field.

The championship challenge remains steep: Tampa Bay needs three more consecutive wins. But after Monday's 10-1 loss, the conversation has changed. The Rays have taken the first step. Now they need another.

Monday's Game 3: How It Got Away From the Rays

To appreciate Tampa Bay's response, it helps to remember how difficult the previous night had been. For four innings on Monday, Game 3 was a close game. Milwaukee scored twice in the third and led 2-0 when the fifth inning turned the night. With two outs and runners on first and second, William Contreras hit a ground ball to third that was ruled a force out at second. The Brewers challenged, the call was overturned, and the inning stayed alive with an infield single. Six more hits followed. By the time the Rays recorded the third out, Milwaukee had strung together seven consecutive two-out hits, scored eight runs and led 10-0. Not one of those hits left the ballpark.

Freddy Peralta, the ALCS MVP, was charged with five runs over 4 2/3 innings and took the loss. The relief that followed could not stop the line from moving. The final totals underline the challenge: Milwaukee finished with 16 hits, and Tampa Bay managed three. Brewers starter Robert Gasser allowed one hit over six scoreless innings. Yandy Díaz, who had two of the Rays' three hits, drove in Tampa Bay's run with a two-out double in the ninth.

The first two games were much closer. Milwaukee won 3-2 on Friday and 5-4 on Saturday, both at American Family Field. That did not erase Monday's result, but it matters when judging the matchup. Two one-run losses and a blowout are different problems, and on Tuesday the Rays recovered the execution that keeps a game close.

Can a Team Come Back From 3-0 in the World Series?

It has never happened, and the Rays are still attempting it. The series now reads 3-1, but Tampa Bay is not in an ordinary 3-1 hole. The Rays fell behind 3-0, so winning the title still means completing the four-straight comeback that no team has managed in the World Series. Tuesday's win was the first of those four.

The relevant baseball precedent is the 2004 Boston Red Sox, who overturned a 3-0 deficit against the Yankees in the American League Championship Series on the way to their first title in 86 years. That comeback happened one round before the World Series, not during it.

There is a Tampa Bay connection, too. In the 2020 ALCS, the Rays led Houston 3-0, watched the Astros win three straight, then won Game 7 and advanced to the World Series. Rays fans have seen from the other side how uncomfortable an apparently commanding series lead can become.

Neither example predicts this series. They do explain why winning the next game was more useful than debating whether four straight felt possible. Tampa Bay has now won one, and the same logic applies to Game 5.

If each remaining game were an independent 50-50 contest, three consecutive wins would have a 12.5% chance, or one in eight. That is a mathematical illustration, not Tampa Bay's measured probability or betting odds. Starting pitchers, available relievers and home field make the real games different.

Rays vs. Brewers: The Numbers Behind the Matchup

The regular season shows strengths on both sides. These are full-season figures from MLB's team statistics, separate from the World Series results.

Source: MLB.com 2026 regular-season team batting statistics and standings. Postseason games are not included.

Tampa Bay hit 15 more home runs and stole two more bases. Milwaukee's slugging percentage was almost identical, while its higher on-base percentage helped create more scoring opportunities. Monday was that difference in miniature: the Brewers kept putting runners on, and the Rays, with one baserunner left on base all night, rarely did.

Our takeaway: the Rays have power and speed worth backing. Their task is to turn those strengths into productive innings while limiting the traffic that makes Milwaukee so difficult to contain. Milwaukee scored all eight runs in Monday's decisive fifth inning without a home run. Tampa Bay needs to create its own scoring opportunities through consistent traffic on the bases.

Three Things Tampa Bay Needs Next

Keep the traffic coming. Three hits on Monday became nine on Tuesday, and the winning rally in the 12th was built on singles: Jonny DeLuca's tied the game after Milwaukee had gone ahead on a Cooper Pratt home run, and Ben Williamson's ended it. Runners aboard, not one big swing, is what gave the Rays a chance.

Keep Milwaukee to one run at a time. Game 3 turned on an eight-run inning. In Game 4 the Brewers never scored more than once in any inning, and the game stayed within reach for 12 of them. Clean defense and finishing at-bats still matter against a lineup that keeps putting the ball in play.

Let Game 5 have its own story. These are our priorities for the next step, not a claim about the team's announced strategy. Tuesday's win cannot be banked against Wednesday. The Rays need three more, one at a time.

Would This Be the Brewers' First World Series Title?

Yes. Milwaukee is seeking its first World Series championship. The Brewers' only previous appearance came in 1982, when they lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games as an American League team. This is a chance at a first title, not a first appearance. Tampa Bay is also chasing its first championship after losing the 2008 and 2020 World Series.

That milestone belongs in the story. For Florida fans, the hope is that it does not arrive at the Rays' expense.

What Comes Next for Rays Fans?

Game 5 is Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 8 p.m. ET at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, with television coverage on FOX and FOX Deportes and streaming on FOX One. As of Wednesday morning, MLB lists Jacob Misiorowski as Milwaukee's probable starter; Tampa Bay had not yet listed its starter. Check the official Rays schedule for any updates before first pitch. For the full series schedule and how the Rays got here, see our Tampa Bay fan's guide to Rays vs. Brewers.

Whatever happens this week, the Trop is hosting World Series baseball again, something that looked unlikely a year ago. For where the team is headed after this ballpark, see our guide to the Rays' planned new stadium in Tampa.

A comeback cannot happen all at once. Tuesday was the first step: one win, another game and a reason to keep watching. The next one comes Wednesday night.

What encouraged you most about the Rays' Game 4 response?

Sources & Further Reading

• Rays 4, Brewers 3 (12 innings): World Series Game 4 box score (Oct. 27, 2026) — MLB.com Gameday
• 'We've got one more day': Rays walk it off to force Game 5 — MLB.com game recap
• Brewers 10, Rays 1: World Series Game 3 box score (Oct. 26, 2026) — MLB.com Gameday
• With historic romp, unrelenting Crew just 1 win from 1st World Series title — MLB.com game recap
• 2026 MLB Postseason schedule and results — MLB.com
• Tampa Bay Rays schedule — MLB.com
• 2026 MLB team batting statistics — MLB.com
• 2026 MLB standings — MLB.com
• 3-0 comebacks: Dave Roberts doesn't want history to repeat itself — MLB.com, Oct. 29, 2024
• Has an MLB team ever come back from 3-0 in the World Series? — Sporting News
• Milwaukee Brewers franchise history (pennants and championships) — Baseball-Reference
• The Rays Are in the World Series: A Tampa Bay Fan's Guide to Rays vs. Brewers — Florida Home Vibes, Oct. 23, 2026