MILWAUKEE – When Liam Hicks homered in the first inning Saturday, the Rays took a 4-0 lead just five batters into the game and seemed well on their way to a comfortable win. Their ace, Drew Rasmussen, was on the mound. The path to a Game 2 victory was clear.
But the Rays soon got sloppy. A ground ball trickled through Jonathan Aranda’s legs at first base, an over-aggressive send got Hicks thrown out at home plate and Chandler Simpson let a ball carom off his glove in left field.
Along the way, the Brewers just kept pushing, and with the Rays' lead down to one, light-hitting right fielder Sal Frelick hit a left-on-left homer to straightaway centre to tie the game 4-4 in the sixth. One inning later, Cooper Pratt singled home the go-ahead run and the Brewers were up for good.
Thanks to their persistent offence and more impressive relief pitching the Brewers won 5-4, giving them a commanding 2-0 lead in the World Series. Now 9-1 in the playoffs after an MLB-best 103 wins in the regular season, Milwaukee continues to look like the best team in the game.
“We’re down to the end of the season here,” said Brewers manager Pat Murphy. “They’re going to tap us on the shoulder at some point and tell us no more. (Our) guys just don’t give up. They believe, and they don’t give up.”
Meanwhile, Rays manager Kevin Cash acknowledged “we didn’t play our cleanest baseball (and this) was probably not our best day.”
The first home run of the World Series came from Hicks, a Toronto native who grew up cheering for the Blue Jays and playing for the Toronto Mets amateur baseball program. A ninth-round draft pick in 2021, he bounced from the Rangers to the Tigers to the Marlins before breaking out in 2026, when the Rays acquired him.
With one on and one out in the first, Hicks hit a no-doubt home run into the second deck at American Family Field, joining George Selkirk, Larry Walker and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. as the only Canadian-born players to homer in the World Series.
“I didn't have the day that I wanted yesterday,” Hicks said. “So it really felt good to help the team.”
But soon afterwards, Rasmussen started struggling with four first-inning singles leading to two early runs and an elevated pitch count. Then the Rays started playing with uncharacteristic sloppiness, allowing the Brewers to keep the game close.
“Unfortunately, they clawed back,” Hicks said. “They played better than us the rest of the game and we just couldn't capitalize on our opportunities.”
Afterwards, in the Brewers clubhouse, starter Brandon Woodruff said he’s impressed by the composure his teammates are showing under pressure.
“It's the right people in the room for sure,” Woodruff said. “I don't think there's any panic.”
Frelick’s homer is especially notable considering he hit all of four homers in 111 regular season games this year. And one inning later, he nearly went deep again.
“He hit four lasers tonight,” said Murphy. “He’s got the it factor.”
Though his team’s aggressive baserunning has backfired at times in the World Series, Cash explained that the Rays have relied on creating pressure all year and don’t intend to reinvent themselves now.
“Let’s see if we can put some pressure on somebody else,” he said. “To their credit, they’ve responded with everything we’ve thrown at them.”
Asked whether it’s perplexing to score four in the first then manage nothing afterwards, Hicks credited the Brewers.
“They’ve got a really good pitching staff over there,” he said. “So I don't think anyone's perplexed. But it's frustrating for sure. We know we're a really good offence, and we know we can score more than that.”
Before Game 2, Milwaukee had gone 10-0 with Henderson on the mound at home in 2026. But in his World Series debut, he lasted just three innings while allowing four runs, of which three were earned.
Yet Rasmussen wasn’t much better, covering just 3.2 innings while allowing three runs and striking out four. It was an underwhelming performance from the former Brewer, whose 2.71 ERA ranks third in all of baseball over the last two seasons behind only Tarik Skubal and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
“Wasn’t as crisp,” Cash said. “Just wasn’t as sharp as he’s been for quite some time.”
Regardless, the Brewers bullpen did its job as usual. JoJo Romero, Dustin May, DL Hall, Abner Uribe and Aaron Ashby combined for six scoreless innings to make the win possible, with Ashby stranding the potential tying run on third in the ninth.
“They’re not fresh, that’s for sure,” said Murphy. “Maybe they’ll get crisp soon, but they certainly are willing.”
As a result, a sold-out crowd of 43,245 saw the Brewers win yet another home game. In fact, the last time the Brewers lost at American Family Field was September 13, nearly a month and a half ago.
Now, the challenge shifts to Tropicana Field, where the Brewers will have a chance to win their first-ever World Series championship should they take two of the next three. The Rays, meanwhile, must win two of three at home to keep their season alive and force the series back to Milwaukee for Game 6.
Robert Gasser faces former teammate Freddy Peralta at Tropicana Field in Game 3 on Monday at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+. On paper, it’s advantage Rays. Though by now, we should all know never to underestimate the 2026 Brewers.
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