Brewers fans take over Tropicana Field
MLB
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Tampa Bay? More like Whitefish Bay, as in the Milwaukee suburb.
Milwaukeeans piled onto airplanes and headed south to Tropicana Field Monday night after watching their team take a 2-0 lead in Wisconsin. They were drawn to a stadium where tickets were still available near game time.
The Brewers made it feel like money well spent with a 10-1 rout in Game 3. Game 4 was Tuesday night with the Brewers leading 3-0 in the series.
Three hours before the first pitch Monday, the average "get-in" price was $422, down 47% from the previous three days, according to TicketData. Unsold inventory has been a postseason storyline not only in St. Petersburg, but also in Atlanta and Los Angeles this year.
Milwaukee has been the exception, both at home and on the road.
Even with the Rays and Brewers sporting similar blue-and-yellow color schemes, the volume of Wisconsin fans made it clear well before first pitch that Tampa Bay would not generate its typical partisan atmosphere. Brewers fans even commandeered "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."
"Players respect it, you know what I mean?" Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said. "They know that they have a fan base that follows them, loves them, supports them, travels for them. I mean, there's been a lot of places we went this year on the road that would just stun you how many Brewers people are there.
"You're like, 'We're pretty far away and we've got all these Brewers people here?' It's really a neat thing."
"We could tell in batting practice," said Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski. "As soon as they opened the gate, it was all Brewers fans."
Various media outlets reported Sunday that a large share of Game 3 ticket sales came from Wisconsin. Milwaukee media outlets described Mitchell International Airport as pulsating with Brewers fans at 4 a.m. Monday. That influx was evident at the popular Ferg's Sports Bar & Grill across the street from Tropicana Field, where scores of Brewers fans with fresh sunburns showed off their Game 3 tickets.
ACTION JACKSON: Brewers left fielder Jackson Chourio went 4-for-5 with two runs and an RBI in Game 3, continuing a postseason coming-out party for the 22-year-old Venezuelan.
"He's a special player, not just a special hitter. He's just so talented. I think people forget how young he is," Brewers hitting coach Daniel Vogelbach said. "He's just a kid. He could be playing college baseball right now."
Chourio is batting .286 with two home runs and nine RBIs in the postseason.
THAT'S ALL FREDDY: Rays starter Freddy Peralta entered Game 3 with an 0.89 ERA over his previous 10 starts but saw it climb to 2.95 after allowing five earned runs on seven hits and three walks while striking out four in 4 2/3 innings.
Peralta had not allowed multiple runs in an inning since Aug. 21, but William Contreras and Christian Yelich hit consecutive singles to give Milwaukee a 2-0 lead in the third. The Brewers tagged him for three more runs in the fifth.
The Brewers made Peralta labor through much of his outing, driving up his pitch count and finally forcing manager Kevin Cash to remove him with two outs in the fifth after 87 pitches.
Peralta has not thrown 100 pitches in a game for the Rays since being acquired in an August trade.
CAUGHT UP: A game after a high-profile gaffe in left field, Rays outfielder Chandler Simpson looked every bit like a Gold Glove finalist again with a spectacular catch in the second inning of Game 3.
With one out and Pratt on first, Simpson sprinted toward the foul pole and slammed into the short wall about 315 feet from home plate after making an over-the-shoulder catch of Frelick's opposite-field drive.
GAS UP: Robert Gasser delivered the longest outing by a Brewers starter this postseason in Game 3, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out three over six scoreless innings.
STATS: Milwaukee became the 43rd team to take a 3-0 lead in a postseason series. Just 10 teams facing a 3-0 deficit have come back to force a Game 5. Four forced a Game 6, and two forced a Game 7. Only one, the 2004 Boston Red Sox, came back to win a series — the American League Championship Series.
