Everything that could go Tampa Bay’s way did…and they still lost.

Nine errors in ten games is not a good stat to have for a postseason. Cooper Pratt took the first ball hit to him and threw it into the ground, which gave Yandy Diaz second base. Jake Bauers bailed Pratt out at the end of Game 1 with a pick of a similar throw, but not today.

Two batters later, Logan Henderson and Pratt were not on the same page during the Chandler Simpson at-bat. Henderson made a really good pitch, but Simpson did a perfect job of going with the tailing fastball away from him and hitting it into the spot… vacated by Pratt. 

1-0 Rays

Junior Caminero then hit the fourth changeup he saw from Henderson down the left field line. 2-0 Rays

Henderson hangs his 24th pitch of the game -and the inning- to Liam Hicks. It came down in a place very far away. 4-0 Rays. 

Milwaukee shows no sign of fear or panic. Jackson Chourio greets Drew Rasmussen with a single to right. Great approach and a signal to the rest of the team to not panic. 

Lefty Jake Bauers hits almost exactly the same pitch to right.

 Yelich drops his back shoulder trying to hit a meat pitch. Out one. 

Jonathan Aranda returns the Pratt favor by dropping a ball next to the fence near first base. 3-2 count, Contreras goes with the high strike past Richie Palacios at second. Run scores. 4-1 Rays. 

Rasmussen then hangs another pitch, this time to Brice Turang. Turang smokes one, but it goes right to Richie Palacios. Two outs. 

Garrett Mitchell runs the count to 3-2. Another hanger on the 25th pitch. Mitchell doesn’t miss it. His single makes it 4-2 Rays. 

Rasmussen finally challenges someone and runs a 97 mph fastball past Pratt. 

That’s one heck of a first inning. 

Second inning. Small ball again with a guy with speed at first. Taylor Walls moves Victoria Mesa Jr. over. It’s a guaranteed win for Walls, who is hitting .138 in the postseason. But Mesa can steal that bag on his own.  Diaz strikes out on a rising fastball. 

Henderson gets Aranda to wave at a changeup, comes back with another and then blows 96 past him. It feels like the tide is turning. 

But, no. Sal Frelick smokes one to right center and into the glove of Simpson. David Montgomery tries to go opposite field but doesn’t get much of it. Chourio sets the tone again with a 12-pitch at-bat. He’s out but the message has been sent again. 

Credit to Pat Kelly for not panicking with his team down four runs. Henderson continues to battle and gets Caminero to pop out. 

Jo Jo Romero comes in to start the fourth for Milwaukee. This gives him a chance to start the inning and saves Henderson from the soul-crushing mid-inning hook. 

Fourth inning: Pratt works a seven-pitch walk and Frelick turns on yet another hanger inside. Runners at the corners with one out and David Hamilton up. Hamilton came into the game hitting .462 in the postseason and six for his last ten. 

Two straight high fastballs that Hamilton  fouls off. A curve is the obvious next pitch. Hamilton smokes it to first and Aranda lets it go through him. Run scores. 4-3. 

For all his good work earlier, Chourio hits Rasmussen’s pitch instead of waiting for his. Runners move over. Bauers gets hosed on a 3-0 count and doesn’t challenge. No matter as he walks to load them up. 

Cash sees Yelich coming to the plate and brings in Cam Boozer. Good call. Yelich gets jammed and grounds out. Still 4-3.

I finally figured out who Chandler Simpson reminds me of. Kenny Lofton. Go ahead. Prove me wrong. 

Bottom of five. Two pop ups sandwich a walk to Brice Turang. That brings up Pratt, who has already shown maturity beyond his years. Is this the time they go ahead? It feels like every time is the time. This is not the time. A fly out to center ends the inning

Top of six: Liam Hicks gets hit in the elbow by DL Hall.. 

Richie Palacios sacrifices. That makes sense here. Hicks is not fast. 

Mesa Jr.  slaps one to very shallow left and the Rays hold Hicks…wait…what??? Third base coach, Brady Williams, who gave the sign for the sacrifice, forgets that Hicks is about as fast as he is. Hicks tries to go head first by jamming his knees into the ground and sailing airborne sideways. This must be what caused him to be thrown out by five feet. Certainly it wasn’t that he’s às fast as an armored truck…that’s missing three wheels. Still 4-3. 

Bottom of six. The lefthanded hitting Frelick works the lefthanded Ian Seymour for an eight-pitch at-bat. Number nine sails over the right centerfield wall. Barely. Jonny DeLuca misjudged it and turned around for the carom. 4-4

David Hamilton makes Seymour throw another nine pitches. Chourio makes him throw eight on top of that. Seymour finally strikes him out. The sideways neck-snapper walks around the mound like he’s a badass. #annoying. Bauers walks. 

New pitcher: 

Yelich pops it up. Walls goes out. Simpson comes in, pulls up as he drifts toward Walls, who is not making a play on the ball. Simpson has it in his glove but the ball pops out as he hits the ground.

Rays fans have their heads in their hands. Tyler Wells comes in to pitch. Contreras bounces out to third. Still 4-4.

Top of seven: Uribe comes in to slam the door for Milwaukee…and walks Walls , the number-nine hitter. Diaz, who was on fire, now seems ice cold and waves at a pitch low and outside for strike three. 

Uribe can’t keep Walls from stealing second. Aranda moves him to third on a chopper. 

Bauers is playing even with the bag and does a great job picking a grounder from Simpson. The force at first ends the inning.

Turang doubles. Mitchell hits it in the same spot but high enough that Mesa can get to it.  Turang gets back to tag up and make it to third. 

Kevin Kelly -fresh off of giving up three hits in Game 1- is in to face Pratt. Pratt goes fishing for a 59-and-a-half foot slider. He lays off one a little higher. Kelly keeps elevating and Pratt serves it into right. 5-4 Brewers. 

Frelick gets a hanger and hits it about four feet shorter than the one that went over the fence. Mesa Jr. hails it in.

Aaron Ashby goes 1-2-3 I. The top of the eighth.

Bottom of eight. Chourio singles. Rays fans will argue for years whether he was thrown out at second and if Kevin Cash should have  challenged the call. It sure looked like Walls got the tag on him as Chourio lost contact with the bag. 

Yelich walks. Two on. One out. Contreras up. Giant swing at strike one.  2-2 count. Both runners go. Hicks can’t handle the pitch. Walls plays in and goes home. Chourio gets his foot past Hicks before the tag but Umpire Jim Wolf rules he didn’t touch the plate.

Steven Matz comes into face Turang. Turang hits it down the line in left but Simpson is so fast he snags it five feet from the line.

Just like Game 1, Ashby is back out for the top of the ninth. DeLuca doubles to right. Mesa Jr. is supposed to bunt…doesn’t…then strikes out swinging. Instead of runnIng to first, he stands at the plate …I guess to try to prove he didn’t swing? and lets Contreras tag him out. 

Cash brings in Ben Williamson, who looks woefully overmatched. He grounds out to second. 

Murphy chooses to keep his closer in the pen as Ashby tries to close it out. Ashby goes fastball and then three changeups. 3-1: rainbow curve for strike two. Changeup. The appeal to first and umpire James Hoye raises a fist in the air. Diaz throws his hands up. 

From the first base dugout it looks like he did not go as Diaz and Caminero both raise the bat head straight up on their check swings. From overhead, it looks like he went. No matter. Game over. Tampa Bay had the game won and eventually gave it away while Milwaukee did what it had to.

It’s going to take a miracle for Tampa Bay to get the series back to Milwaukee.