This Time, It Was the Brewers With the Rare Miscues, Costing A Chance to Sweep the World Series

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If there has been an unexpected storyline to the 2026 World Series, it is mistakes.

Most of those have happened on the basepaths, which has belied what the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays were accustomed to doing throughout this season—winning games by making the big plays with their feet. But whatever it has been, the World Series has brought out some of the worst of these two teams.

There have also been fielding flaws. Most of those were by the Rays.

But on the day the Brewers had a chance to win the first World Series in the franchise’s 58 seasons, their defense played a significant role in that being put off at least a day. Errors by both of the Brewers’ third basemen—first David Hamilton, then Joey Ortiz—opened the door for the Rays to stay alive, scoring twice in the bottom of the 12th inning for a 4-3 walk-off victory Tuesday in Game 4 of the World Series. The rare lapse defensively left the Brewers with a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, still with a chance to win their first title in Wednesday’s Game 5.

The Brewers are typically a very good defensive team. They ranked seventh in fielding percentage, but their fielding run value was 13th. They only had 10 games all regular season in which they committed two errors, the fourth-fewest in MLB.

The first miscue came courtesy of Hamilton. With one out in the bottom of the fourth and Junior Caminero on second, left-handed reliever JoJo Romero faced Jonny DeLuca, his second batter after replacing right-handed starter Dustin May. Romero got what he needed when DeLuca hit a grounder to Hamilton. Caminero for some reason was running on the play and Hamilton tried to tag the Rays’ superstar and flailed in that effort, although barely missing his back foot. Hamilton recovered from a stumble and threw to first, but that throw was offline and bounced past first baseman Jake Bauers, allowing Caminero to score, making it 2-1, and putting DeLuca on second.

Hamilton did atone for his error by shockingly hitting his second homer of the postseason after hitting just four during the regular season, tying the game 2-2 in the top of the fifth.

It stayed that way until the top of the 12th inning. Rookie Cooper Pratt hit a go-ahead homer that had the Brewers within three outs of the elusive World Series title. After manager Pat Murphy sent Andrew Vaughn to pinch-hit for Hamilton in the ninth, Ortiz replaced him defensively at third. Caminero led off the bottom of the 12th against right-hander Antonio Senzatela by hitting a grounder that hugged the line, but found Ortiz playing deep. The normally reliable Ortiz, however, short-hopped the long throw to Bauers to begin the Rays’ rally. Four batters and four singles later, all against rookie left-hander Shane Drohan, the Brewers were walked off by Ben Williamson, the last player on the Rays’ bench.

For the first time since Game 7 of 1982, the Brewers lost a World Series game. Of course, this is the first time the Brewers have been in the World Series in those 44 years.

Before that 12th inning, the Brewers had done most everything they could do to put themselves in position for a sweep. But unlike the previous three games, the Rays didn’t buckle defensively and give the Brewers an opening to pounce on.

There was one error and another play that could have been very costly. The error came when Christian Yelich stole second in the top of the first, with catcher Liam Hicks’ throw going into center, sending Yelich to third. But Yelich and the Brewers didn’t score. The other one came in the 10th inning and had Rays fans shivering. With two outs, Jake Bauers hit a foul pop on the third-base side. Hicks seemed to have a bead on the ball as Caminero, the third baseman, also closed in. Caminero seemed to cede the situation to Hicks, who at the last second looked toward Caminero as the ball fell between the two.

Bauers, the NL Championship Series MVP and former Ray who has yet to have a big hit in the World Series, suddenly had a second life. Would this be Bauers’ World Series moment? It would not as he struck out.

However, the Rays made two plays that kept the tide from turning against them. DeLuca and left fielder Chandler Simpson made tremendous catches to keep the Brewers from gaining momentum or, possibly, winning the game.

William Contreras, leading off the fourth inning and the Crew down 1-0, hit a knuckling liner right at DeLuca, who got a nice jump and stayed with the wavering ball as it continued to sink, snagging it just inches above the Tropicana Field turf. A split-second later and Contreras at worst has a single and at best has a triple. The Brewers would go on to score their first run of the game in that inning, which might have mushroomed had DeLuca not made that grab.

The Simpson play came with one out in the ninth. After Pratt singled with one out, Garrett Mitchell, who homered in back-to-back games in the NL Championship Series, looked like he might have a shot at an even bigger homer. But Simpson, up for a Gold Glove this year, used his speed to get back to the wall and leapt to keep it from banging off the wall, catching it for the second out.

Two big plays by the Rays, two miscues from the Brewers.

Now, the Brewers have to answer adversity following their first loss since Game 3 of the NL Division Series vs. the San Diego Padres. Their eight-game postseason winning streak, tied for the longest in MLB history, is over. There was no popping of bottles after this one, only thinking about what might have been.

Those bottles will sit on ice for another 24 hours. The question will be how the Brewers bounce back from this walk-off loss. They have had the answer throughout the season. But this is the World Series. The Rays are a terrific team looking to do something no other team has done in World Series history.

The Brewers can’t afford those same mistakes if they are to finally win their first title.

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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.