Aaron Ashby did something nobody in postseason history had ever done. It still wasn't enough.
The Brewers' left-hander turned in a clean 1-2-3 ninth inning in Game 4 of the World Series, and in doing so broke Andrew Miller's record for scoreless innings thrown by a reliever in a single postseason. That's a real piece of October history, the kind of line that usually gets its own highlight package. Instead it's a footnote to one of the wilder finishes this World Series will produce, because the Rays didn't just survive Tuesday night. They stole it.
Milwaukee looked like it had the sweep salted away when Cooper Pratt went deep in the 12th to put the Brewers ahead. Tampa Bay's season, by the account of everyone who watched it, looked over right then. Then the Rays strung together four straight hits in the bottom of the inning and walked it off, 4-3, turning a potential clincher into a gut-punch loss and keeping their season alive for at least one more game.
what happened to Aaron Ashby's record performance
This is the part that should get more attention than it will. Ashby's scoreless stretch this postseason is now the standard by which every shutdown reliever gets measured going forward, and it came in relief of a Milwaukee staff that's carried this team all October. The problem is the record doesn't show up in a box score as a win. It shows up as a really good inning in a game the Brewers still lost, and in October that's a distinction that matters more than almost any other sport.
There's a version of this World Series where Ashby's ninth inning is the story everyone's talking about Wednesday morning. Instead it's Cooper Pratt's homer evaporating in real time, and a Rays team that looked finished finding four straight hits when it needed them most.
where the series stands now
Milwaukee came within one win of a sweep and didn't get it, which means this World Series keeps going. Tampa Bay also has to answer for the health of Junior Caminero, who injured his left foot during that 12th-inning rally. The Rays' All-Star slugger says he intends to play in Game 5 regardless, which is the kind of statement that gets tested the moment he has to run out a ground ball or plant to throw from the outfield.
The next game lands Wednesday night in Tampa Bay, with Milwaukee still holding the series edge and trying to finish what Game 4 didn't. If the Rays need this thing to go back to Milwaukee, that's exactly what the schedule has set up, with games lined up for Friday and Saturday at American Family Field.
What I'm watching next: whether Caminero's foot actually holds up over nine innings instead of just an at-bat, and whether Milwaukee's bullpen plan still runs through Ashby after the night he just turned in.
