Brewers beat Rays 3-2 in World Series Game 1, surviving a ninth-inning scare

The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 3-2 on Friday night in Game 1 of the World Series, winning the first championship-round game played in Milwaukee since 1982 and taking a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. The game, played under a closed roof at American Family Field because of cold weather, was tied as late as the ninth inning before closer Trevor Megill struck out Jonny DeLuca with the potential tying and winning runs in scoring position.

Milwaukee scored twice in the first inning. Jackson Chourio opened the game with a single off Tampa Bay starter Nick Martinez, and Christian Yelich followed with an RBI triple before William Contreras drove in a second run with a single. The Rays answered with a run in the fourth, set up by Junior Caminero's 112.7 mph double, and the Brewers added an insurance run in the seventh on Chourio's two-out single. Tampa Bay cut the lead to 3-2 in the ninth on a groundout before the game's decisive sequence, according to MLB.com's recap and NBC News's account of the game.

A fastball for the record book

Brewers starter Jacob Misiorowski opened the game by throwing a 103.5 mph fastball past Tampa Bay's Yandy Díaz, the fastest pitch ever recorded in a World Series game. He went on to allow one run on four hits over five innings, striking out three, and was credited with the win. According to WISN's reporting, Misiorowski became just the second Brewers pitcher to start a Game 1 of a World Series, joining Mike Caldwell, who did it in 1982. Relievers Abner Uribe and Aaron Ashby combined for three scoreless innings and five strikeouts before Megill took over in the ninth. Martinez, Tampa Bay's starter, struck out five and allowed two runs over five innings of his own.

A nervy ninth

The game's defining moment came with Milwaukee still leading 3-1 in the ninth. Jonathan Aranda and Chandler Simpson singled, a double steal advanced both runners, and Caminero walked to load the bases. Liam Hicks then grounded to the right side; Brewers second baseman Brice Turang started what appeared to be a game-ending double play, throwing to shortstop Cooper Pratt, but a run scored on the play and replay review showed Pratt's foot had come off the bag before he secured the throw. The out at first stood, cutting the deficit to 3-2, but the force-out at second was reversed, leaving runners at second and third. Megill then struck out DeLuca swinging to end it.

Yelich's first-inning triple carried its own historical footnote: according to Elias Sports Bureau figures cited by both MLB.com and NBC News, he became just the seventh player, and the first since Kansas City's Lynn Jones in 1985, to triple in his first career World Series plate appearance. Chourio and Contreras each had two hits, and Contreras threw out a pair of Tampa Bay runners attempting to steal.

"It feels great... Any time you win a playoff game, it feels awesome, but especially a World Series game... So we've still got a ways to go, but it's nice to get that first one," Yelich said after the game.

Two franchises still chasing a first title

The matchup paired two teams that have never won a World Series. The Brewers, who went 103-59 in the regular season — the best record in the majors — swept the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Championship Series to reach their first Series since 1982, when they lost in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals as an American League club. The Rays, who beat the Cleveland Guardians in six games to win the AL pennant, have reached the World Series twice before, in 2008 and 2020, and lost both times. It is the first World Series matching two franchises both seeking a first championship since the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Kansas City Royals in 1980, a point noted in MLB.com's pregame storylines coverage.

The crowd at American Family Field was a sellout, and WISN reported fans without tickets gathering to watch through the stadium's windows. For Milwaukee, which had not hosted a World Series game in 44 years, the win extends a stretch of success built around a young core; Chourio, Turang and Pratt are all in their early twenties, while Yelich, the team's longest-tenured star, picked up his first World Series hit and run in his first trip to the Fall Classic. For Tampa Bay, the loss means a team built largely around pitching and defense will need its lineup, which led the American League in home runs this season, to produce more offense facing a Brewers staff that limited it to one run on four hits across the first five innings.

What's next

Game 2 is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 24, at 8 p.m. ET, again at American Family Field, with both teams set to announce their probable starters beforehand, according to the official MLB schedule and lineup coverage from MLB.com. Historically, the winner of Game 1 has gone on to win the World Series about 63 percent of the time. The series then shifts to Tampa Bay's Tropicana Field for Games 3 through 5, with Games 6 and 7, if necessary, returning to Milwaukee.