By Rory Carroll
Oct 28 (Reuters) – The Milwaukee Brewers captured their first World Series title on Wednesday by defeating the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 to wrap up the Fall Classic in five games and end a 57-year championship drought.
Milwaukee starter Jacob Misiorowski tossed 5-2/3 shutout innings, while timely hitting silenced the home crowd at Tropicana Field as the Brewers secured the crown in their first World Series appearance in 44 years.
The victory caps a dominant campaign for Milwaukee, who won 103 games to claim the National League Central before defeating the San Diego Padres in the NL Division Series and sweeping the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Championship Series.
“I know the city has waited a long, long time for this, and we’re so happy to bring it back to them,” said veteran outfielder Christian Yelich, who joined the franchise in 2018. “I can’t wait to get back there and celebrate.”
Fighting back tears after the final out, Misiorowski paid tribute to the Milwaukee faithful.
“They’ve been nothing but supportive this year and in years prior, and it has been amazing,” the right-hander said.
DROUGHT ENDS
Milwaukee got on the board in the second inning when rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt drove in the opening run off Rays starter Drew Rasmussen. Pratt had homered in the 12th inning of Milwaukee’s Game 4 loss on Tuesday.
David Hamilton extended the lead to 2-0 in the fifth with an RBI single to score Pratt before the Brewers broke the game open in the sixth.
William Contreras crushed an RBI double off the left-field wall to score Yelich before tagging and scoring on Pratt’s sacrifice fly into foul territory, making it 4-0.
Tampa Bay managed just two hits off Misiorowski. They avoided a shutout with two outs in the bottom of the ninth on an RBI double by Chandler Simpson before Milwaukee closer Trevor Megill locked down the final out.
Contreras was named World Series Most Valuable Player after batting .381 (8-for-21) with four RBIs across the five games.
Pratt, 22, became the first rookie to record hits in six consecutive World Series at-bats.
“The pressure is out of this world,” Pratt said. “It’s some of the hardest but most fun baseball I’ve ever been a part of. I messed up a lot of times this postseason, but the guys picked me up, and we’re world champions.”
The franchise, founded as the Seattle Pilots in 1969 before moving to Wisconsin a year later, made their only prior trip to the World Series in 1982 when they lost in seven games to the St Louis Cardinals.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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