Brewers Rout Rays 10-1 to Take 3-0 World Series Lead

The Milwaukee Brewers scored eight runs with two outs in the fifth inning and rode six scoreless innings from Robert Gasser to a 10-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 3 of the World Series on Monday, October 26, at Tropicana Field. Milwaukee leads the best-of-seven series 3-0 and can win its first championship Tuesday night.

Jackson Chourio went 4-for-5, William Contreras and Brice Turang each had three hits, and the Brewers finished with 16. The pivotal rally began with a successful replay challenge that kept the fifth alive. Six consecutive run-scoring hits followed, turning a two-run game into a 10-0 lead without a home run.

How Milwaukee built a 10-run lead

Milwaukee broke through in the third against Freddy Peralta. Chourio singled and Jake Bauers walked before Christian Yelich singled home Chourio. Contreras followed with an RBI single to right, bringing in Bauers for a 2-0 lead. Contreras was thrown out trying to take second, limiting the inning, but the Brewers had put the Rays behind for the third straight game.

The fifth appeared to end with that same score. With Chourio and Yelich aboard and two outs, Contreras grounded to third baseman Junior Caminero, whose throw went to second for the force. Yelich was initially called out. Milwaukee challenged, the call was overturned, and the official record credited Contreras with a single. The bases were loaded.

Kevin Cash replaced Peralta with left-hander Cam Booser. Turang’s single brought in Chourio and Yelich. Garrett Mitchell singled home Contreras, and Cooper Pratt doubled to drive in Turang and Mitchell. Sal Frelick doubled home Pratt before Cash turned to Cole Sulser. David Hamilton singled in Frelick, then Chourio doubled in Hamilton to complete the scoring.

Every run in the inning came after the second out. Milwaukee sent 12 batters to the plate and collected eight hits, including seven in succession beginning with Contreras. Six different hitters drove in runs during the rally. Bauers finally ended it with a flyout to left.

Gasser gives the Rays no opening

Gasser allowed a leadoff single to Yandy Díaz in the first inning and no other hits during his six innings. Tampa Bay still sent only 18 batters against him, the minimum for that span. After Díaz was forced at second, Contreras threw out Chandler Simpson trying to steal. When Victor Mesa Jr. opened the sixth with a walk, Nick Fortes grounded into a double play.

The left-hander struck out three, walked one and threw 50 of his 75 pitches for strikes. Gasser did not have to work around a runner in scoring position. A forceout, a caught stealing and the sixth-inning double play erased Tampa Bay’s baserunners, and Tampa Bay never put a second man aboard in the same inning during his outing.

Antonio Senzatela followed with two perfect innings. Brandon Woodruff pitched the ninth, allowing a Cedric Mullins single and Díaz’s two-out RBI double before Jonathan Aranda grounded out to end the game. Tampa Bay finished with three hits; Díaz had two and the only RBI.

The matchup that decided the fifth

The replay decision changed the situation Cash had to manage. Instead of a completed inning, he faced a bases-loaded threat with Turang coming up. Peralta had allowed seven hits and three walks in 4⅔ innings. Booser entered to face a stretch beginning with the left-handed Turang and Mitchell, but neither matchup produced an out.

Booser faced four batters, all of whom hit safely. The first three runs he allowed belonged to Peralta because those runners were already aboard. Booser was charged with four runs of his own, and Sulser with the final run. Peralta’s official line was five earned runs, not the eight Milwaukee scored in the inning.

The production extended well beyond the middle of Milwaukee’s order. Pratt, Frelick and Hamilton, the final three hitters in the starting lineup, combined for four RBIs in the fifth. Chourio began that inning’s traffic with his third single and capped the rally with his fourth hit. Turang finished 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs; Contreras was 3-for-5 with an RBI.

Milwaukee went 9-for-18 with runners in scoring position. Tampa Bay went 1-for-2. The Brewers had four doubles and 12 singles, drew three walks and struck out seven times. Their nine-run margin came from repeatedly extending the inning and bringing runners home rather than a home run.

Postgame comments

“I think all these fans deserve a championship,” Jackson Chourio said through a translator after the game, according to The Associated Press.

“It’s kind of that chip and a chair mentality,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said of Tampa Bay’s position, according to The Associated Press.

The studio reaction

“I like to consider myself more of a hitter than a home run hitter,” Chourio said through his translator on FOX’s postgame show.

Kevin Burkhardt hosted the discussion with Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz after Milwaukee’s win. Asked about facing former teammate Peralta, Chourio said he had prepared for the fastball and was ready to hit it. His first three hits were singles; his fourth was the double that completed the fifth-inning rally.

Chourio explains his plan against Peralta

Rodriguez asked how Milwaukee combined power with an approach that used the whole field. Chourio described trying to stay on top of the ball and make solid contact, rather than treating every swing as a chance to homer.

A hitter before a home run hitter

Ortiz compared Chourio’s relaxed manner and ability to stay inside the ball with a young Miguel Cabrera. He asked about the 22-year-old’s mindset; Chourio credited his family and the way his father taught him to play.

Ortiz’s Miguel Cabrera comparison

Asked about the chance to clinch, Chourio said Milwaukee had prepared for this moment and had one more game to finish.

Chourio on the chance to finish the series

Mariano Rivera’s assessment of Ashby before Game 3

Rivera’s appearance came on FOX’s pregame show, before Monday’s result. Answering Jeter about Aaron Ashby, the Hall of Fame closer said the left-hander reminded him of himself and called him “nasty.” Jeter had recalled Rivera’s role setting up John Wetteland in 1996.

Ashby had recorded the final five outs of Milwaukee’s 5-4 win in Game 2. Gasser, Senzatela and Woodruff handled all nine innings Monday, so Ashby did not pitch in Game 3.

Watch Mariano Rivera’s reaction to Aaron Ashby

Game 4: Milwaukee can clinch Tuesday

Game 4 is scheduled for Tuesday, October 27, at Tropicana Field, with first pitch at 8 p.m. EDT. Milwaukee needs one more win to finish the series; Tampa Bay must win four straight to take the championship. MLB lists Griffin Jax as the Rays’ probable starter. The Brewers’ starter was not listed in the official schedule at this report’s cutoff.

Complete player statistics

All figures below are for Game 3. Substitutes appear directly below the player they replaced. Pitchers who did not bat are listed in the pitching tables.

Substitutions: Joey Ortiz grounded out for David Hamilton in the seventh and stayed at third base. Andrew Vaughn flied out for Christian Yelich in the eighth and became the designated hitter. Luis Lara popped out for Garrett Mitchell in the ninth and stayed in center field. Gary Sánchez replaced William Contreras at catcher and did not bat.

Substitutions: Jonathan Aranda popped out for Ryan Vilade in the seventh and stayed at first base. Cedric Mullins singled for Nick Fortes in the ninth. Jorge Mateo struck out for Taylor Walls in the ninth.

Cam Booser did not record an out. All three runners he inherited from Freddy Peralta scored; Cole Sulser’s one inherited runner also scored. Those runs remain charged to the pitchers responsible for putting the runners on base. The final digit of an innings-pitched figure records outs, so 4.2 means 4⅔ innings and 1.1 means 1⅓ innings.

Fielding and baserunning

Junior Caminero committed Tampa Bay’s only error, a throwing error in the sixth. Victor Mesa Jr. threw out William Contreras at second base in the third. Milwaukee’s double play went Brice Turang to Cooper Pratt to Jake Bauers. Jackson Chourio stole second against Freddy Peralta and Nick Fortes; that battery caught Garrett Mitchell trying for second. Robert Gasser and Contreras caught Chandler Simpson stealing second.

Key: AB, at-bats; R, runs; H, hits; RBI, runs batted in; BB, walks; SO, strikeouts; 2B/3B/HR, doubles/triples/home runs; SB/CS, stolen bases/caught stealing; HBP, hit by pitch; IP, innings pitched; ER, earned runs; BF, batters faced; IR/IRS, inherited runners/inherited runners scored; W/L, winning/losing pitcher. Pos. identifies the position or positions played; PH means pinch hitter and DH means designated hitter.

Source: MLB’s official Game 3 box score and official play-by-play.

Cover photograph: Jackson Chourio during World Series Game 3, October 26, 2026. Image source: MLB’s official Game 3 coverage.