Dominant Brewers On The Cusp: 4 Takeaways From World Series Game 3 Win Over Rays

Tropicana Field (ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.) – The Brewers are one win away from history. With a 3-0 World Series lead, the dominant 103-win club is on the doorstep of the first championship in franchise history, 44 years after their last trip to the Fall Classic. Tampa Bay is backed into a corner no team has ever escaped. In the history of the Fall Classic, no club has rallied from being down 0-3. The Rays, also chasing their first title, must win four straight, starting with Game 4 on Tuesday night. A Brewers sweep would cap an October that already included sweeping the Dodgers. Milwaukee’s champagne is waiting on ice. Here are my takeaways from the Brewers’ 10-1 win: The Brewers entered the fifth inning with a 2-0 lead. By the time it was over, they scored eight runs — all with two outs — and none of them came in the form of home runs. In other words? Brewball. Jackson Chourio reached base twice in the same inning, and both were base hits to right field. Brice Turang picked up a two-run single in the unlikeliest of ways, by ripping a 106 mph ground ball to Rays shortstop Taylor Walls, who is one of the best gloves in the league at his position. But Walls couldn’t get his leather on it, and it opened up the floodgates for Milwaukee. Garrett Mitchell sliced an RBI single through the hole to left, then Cooper Pratt lined a two-run double to left. Then Sal Frelick, who was denied an extra-base hit in his previous at-bat thanks to an incredible wall-slamming catch from Chandler Simpson, hit it to almost the same exact spot in the fifth, and this time Simpson wasn’t even close. Frelick scored two more runs on that double. The only hitters in the Brewers lineup who didn’t reach base in that fifth-inning ambush were Jake Bauers and David Hamilton. Even the typically even-keeled, straight-faced Brewers manager, Pat Murphy, couldn’t help but smile from his post in the dugout. How could he not be satisfied with his offense’s relentless approach? That fifth inning encapsulated everything it means to face an inexhaustible, indefatigable Milwaukee lineup. It’s an unrelenting offense that can embarrass even the best team in the American League. Peralta took the mound on Monday carrying the emotional baggage of facing his former team, all while hoping to be the stopper for his newest ballclub. He spent eight years playing for the Brewers before they traded him to the Mets before the 2026 season. It was always going to be a challenge going up against the organization and the hitters who know him best. In the end, he didn’t meet that challenge. Peralta’s only clean inning was the fourth, when he retired the bottom of the Brewers order as part of a string of five consecutive outs from the right-hander. But that was his high-water mark of the night. The heart of Milwaukee’s lineup consistently gave Peralta trouble. Jackson Courio went 3-for-3 against him. Christian Yelich reached base all three times against his former ace. William Contreras, who has caught more pitches from Peralta than any other catcher in the league, ripped an RBI single off him in the third and another base hit in the fifth. The veteran’s final line looked worse than it was, because reliever Cam Booser allowed all of his inherited runners to score in the disaster that was the fifth inning. Peralta was charged with five earned runs on seven hits. He allowed three walks and struck out four batters across 87 pitches. This was most likely Peralta’s final outing before he hits free agency this offseason. Robert Gasser, known by some as Bobby Petrol, entered his Game 3 World Series start with the chance to be Milwaukee’s top starter this postseason. After being in full control against Tampa Bay on Monday, there is no longer any doubt. The 27-year-old lefty faced the minimum through six shutout innings against the Rays. The lone hit he allowed in Game 3 came against leadoff man Yandy Diaz in the bottom of the first inning. It was erased moments later when Chandler Simpson, who reached base on a fielder’s choice, was tagged out after sliding off second base on a steal attempt. Then Gasser retired 12 consecutive Rays from the second inning to the fifth, picking up four punchouts along the way. And he stayed efficient throughout the outing, which led to Tampa Bay’s demise. The Rays were off balance facing the southpaw, and it showed. In the sixth, Gasser finally allowed his first man to reach base since the first inning by walking Victor Mesa Jr. on eight pitches. And even that was instantly erased thanks to a double play to the next batter. It likely helped that Gasser was working with an eight-run lead for two of the six innings he threw. But his confidence never wavered. This was who he has been all October. Gasser became the first Brewers starter to complete six innings this postseason. After his magnificent, career-defining start in Game 3, he lowered his ERA this October to 0.60 (one earned run allowed in 15 innings pitched). He was everything the Brewers could’ve asked for and more, and nothing like what the Rays expected. It was clear that the Rays were hoping for a short outing from Gasser, because they stacked their lineup with right-handed hitters and removed two huge bats in the process. First baseman Jonathan Aranda and catcher Liam Hicks were catching bench splinters instead of going to war against the Brewers with their club down 2-0 in the World Series. In the regular season, Aranda occasionally sat against lefties. But for the most part, he was an everyday player for the Rays. So it was an odd choice to bench Aranda, one of Tampa Bay’s biggest hit producers in the regular season and in October, because the lineup severely struggled without him. One of the biggest knocks against the Rays entering this postseason was that the lineup was top-heavy, and Aranda was a part of that force. In Game 3, with Aranda on the bench, the Rays lineup looked especially feeble, and it showed in the results. The Rays had just one hit through eight innings against the Brewers. Aranda entered Monday’s Game 3 with the second-most hits this postseason (13), trailing only Brewers catcher William Contreras (15). He finally entered the game in the seventh inning as a pinch-hitter, and he popped out to third. By then, it was already too late, anyway. Ironically, it was Aranda who made the final out of the game.