MILWAUKEE – This World Series is set to move on from Dairyland, but not before a chicken-or-the-egg question is settled:Are the Tampa Bay Raysblowing it on the big stage, or are the Milwaukee Brewers forcing them to act like imposters and not the 98-win American League champions?The answer is relatively immaterial, since only one thing matters: The Brewers are up 2-0 in this World Series after a 5-4 Game 2 victory, their second one-run conquest and a most unlikely one given that the club trailed 4-0 after a half-inning.Or maybe it was totally predictable.The Brewers are now 9-1 in this postseason and, stunningly, have won seven of eight games in which they have trailed. Relentless. Demoralizing.Two wins from a World Series championship.Let’s break down the winners and losers of Game 2 from American Family Field as the Series shifts to the Gulf Coast:Winner: Brewers bullpenThis is getting ridiculous.The Rays ran a blitz on Brewers starter Logan Henderson, posting a 4-0 lead after a half-inning, catcher Liam Hicks achieving a career highlight with a two-run World Series home run.Predictably, Henderson was out after three innings. Perhaps even more easily anticipated: Milwaukee’s bullpen did not give up a single run in six innings, striking out six and walking one.The Brewers bullpen is now 8-1 with a 1.24 ERA in 50 ⅔ innings this season. Lefty Aaron Ashby recorded the last five outs for the save, running his postseason line to 15 ⅔ innings, zero runs.”I’ll take this quote from Freddie Freeman: They all throw 100,” says Rays outfielder Jonny DeLuca. “That usually is pretty tough and they all got pretty good stuff. They’re just good pitchers.”Ashby is one out shy of equaling Andrew Miller’s record 16-inning scoreless streak to begin the 2016 postseason.“What he’s doing right now is pretty special,” says first baseman Jake Bauers. “There’s just such a calm presence on the mound with him right now that I don’t remember seeing very often.“And you know, we wouldn’t be here without him.”There tend to be diminishing returns with relievers in long postseasons; Miller hit the wall badly in the final three games of that 2016 World Series, and conventional wisdom says opponents fare better when they see a reliever multiple times.Well, Ashby faced the San Diego Padres three times. Same with the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers. And now the Tampa Bay Rays got two looks at him in World Series Games 1 and 2.Ashby has yet to give up a run. The window to sully him is almost closed.Sal Frelick: WinnerSay this for Brewers manager Pat Murphy: He can certainly call his shot.Murphy was asked pregame about Frelick and couldn’t stop gushing, dropping comparisons to Joe Montana and Larry Bird.“He’s got the it factor,” says Murphy, leaving the observer to use their own imagination.In the sixth inning, Frelick made it crystal clear. His epic nine-pitch at-bat ended in a 408-foot bullet over the wall in right center field, tying the game
Content Source: Yahoo News
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