Cooper Pratt Put Himself On the Hook. Then the Brewers Took Him Off and the Rookie Came Through With the Biggest Hit of His Career.

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Cooper Pratt was on the hook to wear the scapegoat horns from the first batter of the game. But if you have followed these Milwaukee Brewers this season, his 25 teammates wouldn’t allow that. It just isn’t what they do if they can help it.

And the way the Brewers are going at the moment, they have been doing something about it. To use a word that manager Pat Murphy has used previously, these Brewers are uncommon. So they did an uncommon thing in Game 2 of the 2026 World Series.

They took those horns off their rookie shortstop.

Then, the 22-year-old paid them back.

Because of both of those, the Brewers are halfway to the first World Series championship in the franchise’s 58 seasons. Pratt atoned for a very costly first-inning error by driving in the go-ahead run with a seventh-inning single in the Brewers’ 5-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday at American Family Field. The Brewers, MLB’s best team during the regular season, defended their home-field advantage by taking a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, which now shifts to Tampa Bay for the next three games.

Pratt has had a rough postseason defensively, which was his calling card as he climbed the ladder in the Brewers’ system to make his MLB debut in June after signing an eight-year, $50.75 million contract this spring before touching an MLB diamond.

He committed errors in three consecutive games in the NL Division Series vs. the San Diego Padres and had a few other shaky plays. He had five errors total in 74 games defensively this year. So it was surprising when Pratt fielded a grounder from leadoff hitter Yandy Diaz and spiked his throw so much that first baseman Jake Bauers had little chance to scoop it before it went into the Brewers’ dugout.

The Rays then did what the Brewers do to other teams. They pounced on the mistake. Right-hander Logan Henderson followed by allowing four runs, including a two-run homer by Liam Hicks. While Henderson was on the hook for the deficit, Pratt knew he was responsible for the situation.

As Henderson did in mucking his way through the next two innings before turning the game over to a nails Brewers bullpen, Pratt steadied himself. There were still eight innings left and plenty of time for him to make some sort of contribution, any contribution to get the Brewers back into this game.

The Brewers started the process of removing the horns from Pratt. They scored twice in the bottom of the first against Rays ace right-hander Drew Rasmussen, who had been dominant in three other postseason starts. Pratt had a chance to make it 4-3, but he struck out on three pitches to end the first.

It started to turn in Pratt’s favor in the fourth. The Rays still led 4-2 when Pratt came up with one out. He got into an 0-2 hole against Rasmussen, who was starting to hit his limit. Pratt then took three pitches, two just off the bottom outside corner. He fouled off a 3-2 pitch, then took a 94.7 mph sinker, also low and outside, for a huge walk. Sal Frelick, another big part of this Game 2 win, singled Pratt to third. Pratt scored when David Hamilton’s grounder went through the legs of first baseman Jonathan Aranda. The Brewers trailed 4-3.

After Pratt flew out to center to end the fifth, Frelick took the spotlight for the moment when he hit a tying homer leading off the sixth. Frelick had a disappointing regular season, much of it due to a shoulder injury, and had just four homers this year. He had only three career homers during the regular season against left-handed pitchers before that blast.

Then came the seventh. After right-handed reliever Abner Uribe danced in and out of trouble in the top half, Brice Turang—Pratt’s middle-infield partner—had a leadoff double and went to third on Garrett Mitchell’s fly to the warning track in right. Right-hander Kevin Kelly came in to face Pratt in the biggest moment of his young career. Kelly got up on Pratt 1-2, then couldn’t get the rookie to chase a low changeup. Kelly tried a third sinker in the low-outside part of the zone. Pratt chiseled it to right and Turang trotted home with the go-ahead run.

“There was a runner on third, so I was looking to get something up,” Pratt told Fox’s Tom Verducci. “Then got down 1-1 and chased a little. Heartrate was going and I got back in. Breathe, calm down and just looked for a pitch that I could handle. I stayed inside it and it went over first base, and I was pretty pumped up, man. It was pretty electric.”

With the bullpen at an elite level, Pratt gave the Brewers the decisive hit and a seventh comeback win in nine postseason victories this year.

Pratt was redeemed on this day. He had a moment—a World Series moment—that will stick with him for the rest of his life. Now, the Brewers are halfway to that elusive World Series championship that would make that moment even more indelible.

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Steve Drumwright grew up in Wisconsin and was forced out of youth baseball when he failed to make enough contact to play the sport he loves. He did make one memorable pitching appearance, summoned from right field in a blowout. Steve went on to a successful journalism career, beginning as a part-time high school sportswriter in small-town Wisconsin to becoming the No. 2 person in the newsroom in San Francisco. Steve enjoys telling the stories of other people and how sports is a terrific vehicle for telling those stories. He now lives in Southern California. Follow him on Bluesky.