Chourio Powers Brewers to 10-1 Rout as Milwaukee Takes 3-0 World Series Lead

The Milwaukee Brewers are one victory from a World Series championship after beating the Tampa Bay Rays 10-1 in Game 3 in St. Petersburg. The win gives Milwaukee a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, which has so far looked more like a foregone conclusion than a contest.

The Brewers are 7-0 across the NLCS and the World Series. The 1976 Reds are the only earlier team to sweep both of the final two rounds, and they played just a five-game NLCS. A win in Game 4 would make Milwaukee 8-0 in those rounds, something never done in MLB history.

Game 3 was lopsided from start to finish. Milwaukee collected 10 runs on 16 hits, while Tampa Bay managed one run on three hits. Even that margin flatters the Rays, who scored their only run on two hits in the ninth inning, when the outcome was long settled. The Brewers broke the game open with eight runs in the fifth.

The night belonged to outfielder Jackson Chourio, who led off with a line drive single and added singles in his next two at-bats. In his fourth trip to the plate, he doubled during the big fifth inning. Chourio finished with four hits, two runs and an RBI through five innings, while the Rays had just one hit as a team through eight.

"Yeah, I think that you could say this is one of my better games," Chourio said afterward. "Really, I was just taking every at-bat like it could be my last and trying to find any way I could to get on base. Because I know, as long as I get on base, there's guys behind me who could score."

At 22, Chourio became the youngest player to have a four-hit World Series game since Joe Garagiola in 1946, a gap of 80 years. His double in the fifth was the softest of his four hits, at 99 mph. Anything over 95 mph is considered a hard-hit ball.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy was not surprised. "Nobody's surprised that Jack Jack's doing this," Murphy said, adding that Chourio is "understanding what it takes, the discipline that it takes." Murphy also praised the player's defense and a stolen base in Game 3, compared the work ethic to that of Kobe Bryant, and said Chourio is "on that same track."

The numbers back that up. Chourio is 8 for 14 in the World Series, a .571 average, with three steals in the series and two home runs in the postseason. In Game 2, Chourio threw out a Rays baserunner at home. Despite an injury that limited the season to 127 games, Chourio posted 4.9 WAR and has already put up 20 home run, 20 steal seasons in three years in the majors.

Chourio is signed to a team-friendly deal through the 2031 season, with two club options running through 2033, which positions the outfielder as the face of the franchise for years. Milwaukee has also gotten strong contributions from veteran pickups such as Jake Bauers and organizational arms such as Game 3 starter Robert Gasser.

The Rays' best chance came in Game 2, when they scored four runs in the first inning and then lost 5-4 without scoring again. Apart from the ninth inning of Game 3, they have not scored since. Game 4 is next, and Milwaukee can finish the sweep.