Rays falter in several ways in World Series-opening loss to Brewers

Marc Topkin, Tampa Bay Times on Oct 23, 2026

Published in Baseball

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MILWAUKEE — The Rays’ first World Series appearance since 2020 didn’t go well on Friday night.

They gave up two runs in the first inning on hard-hit balls that went off the gloves of two of their best defenders. They ran into two outs on the bases that killed scoring chances. They gave up another run in the seventh after a leadoff walk by reliever Steven Matz, one of four free passes from their bullpen. And a late rally came up short.

And, no surprise, they lost, 3-2 to the Brewers before a raucous announced crowd of 43,250 at American Family Field.

In a series featuring two teams that have not won a championship, the Brewers took the first step toward theirs. Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is Saturday night, with Rays ace Drew Rasmussen facing Milwaukee right-hander Logan Henderson.

Friday’s game didn’t start well for the Rays.

Yandy Diaz’s leadoff drive to right off Brewers hard-throwing starter Jacob Misiorowski — whose first-pitch call was clocked at a Series-record 103.5 mph — fell a few feet short of the wall, and after they got two on, Junior Caminero lined into an inning-ending double play.

Worse, Nick Martinez allowed two runs in the bottom of the first, fueling the already roaring sellout crowd.

Jackson Chourio slapped Martinez’s first pitch for a single to right. With one out, Brewers veteran Christian Yelich drove an 0-2 cutter deep to right-center that Jonny DeLuca made a long run and an all-out dive for, and appeared to briefly have in the ball in his glove but couldn’t hold on to.

Chourio scored and Yelich went all the way to third.

With the Rays infield playing in, William Contreras then laced a first-pitch cutter at 108.4 mph that went off the glove of shortstop Taylor Walls for an RBI single and a 2-0 lead.

The Rays got one back in the fourth.

Jonathan Aranda drew a leadoff walk from Misiorowski, then with one out Caminero turned around a 101.5 mph Misiorowski fastball into a 112.7-mph liner that went over the head of center fielder Garrett Mitchell for a double.

With Aranda on third and Caminero on second, the Rays only got one run. Liam Hicks grounded out to first to score Aranda, but DeLuca flied out.

The Rays had a chance in the fifth when Victor Mesa Jr. led off with a single and moved to second on Ben Williamson’s ground out. Walls popped out for the second out, then Mesa — with Diaz, one of Tampa Bay’s top hitters, at the plate — inexplicably tried to steal third and was caught to end the inning.

Mesa made some amends in the Brewers’ fifth, fielding David Hamilton’s drive to right and firing to Williamson, who relayed the ball to Caminero at third for an out as Hamilton was trying for a triple.

Misiorowski lasted only five innings, allowing the one run, four hits and one walk while striking out three.